


Turn Off Controller: Turn Off Console

by Sqwoo



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Attires, Banter, Bromance, Canon Compliant, Chocobros complaining, Crack, Episode Gladiolus DLC, Episode Ignis DLC, Episode Prompto DLC, F/M, Friendship, General Chaos, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, LIKE A LOT…, M/M, Nonsense, Randomness, Sort of AU?!, Spoilers, Swearing, Tags May Change, Various ships, boys are not happy with their naff player, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:28:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 27,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sqwoo/pseuds/Sqwoo
Summary: What exactly do the Chocobros get up to when the game is turned off…Series of non-related one-shots in varying length, with a mix of ships and characters, set during game time, but after the game is turned off.Cue lots of complaining from the boys, poor game play, and general nonsense!
Relationships: Aranea Highwind/Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 201
Kudos: 61





	1. A Leisurely Labour of Skills

**Author's Note:**

> My IgNoct fic in development is being difficult so I’ve ditched it to write some complete nonsensical randomness!
> 
> Courtesy of a suggestion made by my husband – better than his usual non helpful ideas such as having Ignis drink Yorkshire Tea instead of Ebony…

Ignis reaches for another Leiden sweet potato, accidently finding an unusual onion. He studies it for a moment, considering whether or not to add it and how it might affect the current meal he’s working on. Suddenly his eyes widen, and he drops the onion as if burnt by it.

“That’s it!” The other three Chocobros turn to him expectantly. “I’m fed up of cooking!” He cries and sweeps the rest of the ingredients off the makeshift counter at the campsite straight onto the rocky platform. “All I ever seem to do is cook!” He takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes.

“We were barely awake for 10 minutes this morning before we set camp again! Prompto hadn’t even gotten himself up and dressed before the whole day bloody reset. And here I am _again_ , in front of a sodding fire, making yet another new recipe!” He walks off and throws himself into a chair, rocking it back with force. He leans his head skyward and closes his eyes. “Someone else can cook, I’m on strike.”

Prompto and Gladio share a look before banging a fist onto their palms three times. Gladio holds out a fist, at the same time Prompto holds two fingers apart.

“Rock beats scissors, you’re up.” Prompto pouts before dragging his feet to the chaos Ignis left behind. Gladio puts his hands back behind his head with a smirk on his face.

“Prom, when will you learn, Gladio is always rock. Every. Single. Time.” Noct chuckles, shaking his head at his best friend. 

Prom cleans off a few potatoes and begins preparing a simple stew. “I know, but there’s a little voice in my head saying… this time… he’ll go paper.” He holds a knife towards the shield, challenging him to choose paper next time.

Gladio ignores him, glad to get out of cooking. If it were up to him, he would choose Cup Noodles. In game or not, he couldn’t get enough of them.

“I don’t think I can bear another day of skill increasing.” Ignis mumbles to himself. Noct lies back on the ground, close to the campfire. He sighs loudly, one hand stretched out over the flames, twisting them over his fingers, feeling a warmth but knowing he won’t burn.

“Tell me about it. 3 hours I was fishing in yesterday’s session. 3 hours! Do you know how long that is in game time?”

“Well, at least it’s an improvement on last week.” Prompto says as he brings the pot of stew over to the fire. He gives Noct a quizzical look. “What was that about, anyway? Continually running in circles for hours on end?!” Noct shrugs, not really sure himself.

Noctis had been made to run around in a tight circle for most of a game day last week. He had been hoping for some decent hunts to bring in a little more cash, but instead the player had him literally chasing his tail all day. The other guys had randomly tried to follow, but stopped every now and again. Noct didn’t have that luxury, and so it was with leaden legs that he finally sat down at the end of the day after they turned the game off. 

Gladio glances at Noct, a guilty look on his face. “Er yeah, sorry guys, I think that has something to do with my stats. I picked up a ton of items after they did that. Pretty neat.”

“Pretty lame!” Noct sits up suddenly, wrapping his arms around his knees and glaring at his shield. “We could have bought all those items you picked up. We’ve got about 50 Hi-potions! Despite Ignis telling us constantly to stock up on curatives.” He finishes with an additional scowl thrown in Ignis’ direction for good measure.

“Well, at least it’s better than a stinking fish!” Gladio pulls his boot off and throws it at Noct, aiming for his head. “Ain’t no more cats to feed, so why do you keep fishing?!”

Noct catches the boot easily and chucks it over the edge of the camp crag, following with an obscene gesture to Gladio that had Ignis rolling his eyes. It was fair to say it had been a long week for the boys, and their tempers grew more sour with each passing day of repetitive game play.

Clearly the player had a reason for their methods, but it was affecting the morale of the group. Everyone is quiet for a period of time, Noct staring into the flames of the fire quietly wondering about the next chapter of the game. Gladio rubs absentmindedly at his foot, regretting throwing his boot but not wanting to show weakness by retrieving it. Ignis has his eyes closed again, so he isn’t inclined to watch Prompto and comment on his culinary methods. Prompto prepares the bowls for the stew, taking his time about it, his head low and face hidden.

“‘Least your skills are useful…” His voice is quiet but is still heard over the silence of the night in the plains. “I just take pictures.”

Everyone stops and looks towards him. Noct stands slowly, brushing the dirt from his backside as he makes his way over to a very sullen looking Prompto. He reaches out, taking Prompto’s hand, holding a few of his fingers, lightly in his grip.

“Prom, your pictures are useful. I love looking through the reel at the end of the day. It always makes me happy.” The two sets of blue eyes met as Prompto gives a hesitant smile to Noct.

“Really?” Noct gives a warm grin in return, nodding his head and rubbing the fingers held in his hand. Gladio’s gruff voice adds to the sentiment as he says,

“Yeah, me to.” 

“Agreed.” Ignis says. “I very much enjoy reflecting on our day through your photographs. Our memories are what tie us together.” Prompto beams at them all, feeling a little more confident in his skill.

“Although,” Ignis weighs his next words, eager not to upset the blonde again. “Perhaps you could limit the pictures you take during battles? It does have a knock-on effect with the rest of us.” Ignis glances at Noct, who had died earlier that day in battle due to Prompto taking an ill-timed shot. 

Prompto bites his lip, shrugging his shoulder ruefully. “Oh yeah, my bad.”

“Hey, no worries.” Noct nudges his arm, grinning. “At least you got a shot of Gladio falling on his face.”

“I thought we were doing a link-strike!” Gladio shouts defensively. “You left me hanging!” Noct and Prompto start laughing as Gladio storms off in a huff to collect to his boot.

Ignis shakes his head, tasting the stew. He adds a little extra seasoning before walking off in his own huff, having broken his own strike.


	2. Type-D(estroyed)

Gladio’s rough voice cuts through the sound of the fan on the Regalia, humming noisily, unable to cool the overheated engine.

“What the hell did you do Noct?”

Noct looks at him, mouth agape. “I didn’t do this!”

“Well, Iggy wasn’t driving, that’s for sure.” Gladio shakes his head, bending down to get a closeup view of the rear bumper hanging off.

“Hey, I drive perfectly on automatic mode, OK. I can’t help it if the player feels the need to go manual every once in a while.” Noct crosses his arms over chest and can’t help but grimace at the state of his precious Regalia.

Each body panel had at least one dent, scratch or dint in it. The once glossy black surface had great deep gashes and paintwork scraped off. The front driver side was completely smashed in, the grill hanging off, leaving a scratch along the forecourt of Hammerhead from where it had been towed in.

Prompto says in wonder, “I don’t understand… the world is so big, there are so many miles of road…” He kicks gently at the beaten wheel of the Type-D, the trim alone half his height. “Why did they feel the need to go off-road and drive into every rock and tree from here to Galdin?”

Ignis gingerly tries to secure a wing mirror that swings precariously by a grizzly piece of metal work.

“One thing is certain. I am _not_ coming up with anymore recipes for at least a week. I don’t care what ingredients we pick up along the way.” The wing mirror comes off in his hand and he looks apologetically at Noct.

“Maybe we should ask Cindy to hide the blueprints for the Type-F.” Prompto says, looking at Noct, his face deadly serious. “I really don’t want to be in the air with this player as pilot.”

“They should travel by Chocobo alone. They can’t be trusted with my dad’s car. Do they not realise the symbolism involved with the Regalia? And they drive it into each pack of Dualhorn they see?” Noctis gives the car a tender pat before turning his back, unable to stomach the sight of his beloved car smashed up.

Cindy emerges from the garage, scowling at the group while tying her hair in a short messy bun.

“Boy, am I glad this day is done!” She’s dressed casually in boyfriend-cut jeans and an oversized hoodie, her face and hands the only part of her on show.

“Looking good, Cind.” Prompto smiles at her, nothing but honesty in his voice. She flashes him a quick smile before going back to ranting.

“It’s darn embarrassing, working ‘round Paw-paw all day dressed like a hooker.” None of the boys reply but have the decency to at least look a little shamed, knowing they spend most of Cindy’s cutscenes not looking at her eyes.

She drops herself into Cid’s usual seat, taking a quick note of the damage done to the Regalia for the second time that week.

“It’s why he sits in his chair all day staring out at the road! No one wants to see their granddaughter in a g string and bra!”

“Tell me about it.” Gladio huffs, his arms out wide. “At least you’ve got a jacket. The player has me running around shirtless, as if I’m just part of the damn scenery.” He runs a hand through his hair, glancing down at his eagle tattoo on his chest.

“I’m more than my muscles, you know? I’m tired of being objectified.” Noct looks at him sympathetically and wraps an arm around his waist. He gives a mock pout, trying to cheer Gladio up.

“Does that go for me too?” He looks at him from under his lashes, Gladio not responding at first, determined to stay in his bad mood.

He caves quickly, tilting Noct’s chin and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

“No, you’re allowed.” He winks, drawing a sigh from Prompto.

“Nu huh, no way! I’m not putting up with you two making moon eyes at each other! Do you know how many car trips we’ve been on where the camera is zoomed in solely on you two in the back seat?! Ignis, we’re getting our own caravan!”

“I couldn’t agree more, the caravan is ours. You’ll have to find some alternative arrangements.” Ignis leaves room for no argument. Not that Gladio is bothered, he’d prefer a bit of alone time with the prince, anyway.

“Fine, we’ll camp.” Gladio says easily, Noct’s head falls back in exasperation.

“No… I was looking forward to a bed!”

“Y’all welcome to stay with me and Paw-paw.” Cindy offers, now inspecting the damage of the car. Cindy mentally disagrees with Noctis. She wasn’t sure the player even deserved chocobos and should be restricted to walking everywhere instead.

Gladio smiles. “Thanks, Cind, but we better stay within in-game territory. Don’t wanna glitch out and not be here the next time the game starts.”

“No worries. Well, boys, I’m gonna make a start on the old girl. I’ll leave the exterior until game play, but I oughta see what Astral’s ass is happening under her bonnet.” She gives a brief salute. “See y’all on the other side.”

With that, Ignis and Prompto headed to the only caravan at Hammerhead, leaving Noct and Gladio to make tracks for the nearest campsite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is literally how I drive any version of the Regalia. Seriously, I cannot be trusted.   
> I haven't even attempted Pitioss Ruins as I simply can't navigate my way there safely!
> 
> Please note, I do not drive like this in real life 😂


	3. Princess & The P(lease don't make me camp)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to be so productive over the holiday period. I have lots of things to get done during my time off work...  
> This is my life now 😂

Noctis sighs, folding the canvas chair and adding it to the pile with the other three.

“Am I not clear when I say I hate camping? I mean, am I being too subtle about it?” He turns to the rest of the group, his arms out, questioning.

“I feel like I complain about it a lot during play, but I don’t know, maybe I sound too sincere when I say ‘great, camping, again…’” He shakes his head to himself.

Gladio, now finished tidying the tent away, throws it over his back, lifting all four chairs under one thick arm and taking the cooking stove from Ignis in his other hand. He talks over his shoulder to the prince as he descends the rocky path of the campsite.

“You definitely don’t sound sincere.”

Prom rolls the bedding up, stopping to pet his chocobo. “And you really aren’t subtle.” 

“We understand Noctis, you hate camping. We would all prefer a bed.” Ignis loads the last of the supplies onto the remaining chocobos and gives them a light pat to indicate they should follow Gladio to the car.

The other two would agree readily. They much prefer a bed. However, they probably wouldn’t dismantle an entire camping set up, and drive to another sleeping arrangement, only to have to return early morning and set the camp up again.

But gaming session or not, he was Prince Noctis, well King Noctis, technically in this chapter and so what he said goes.

With the haven now packed up, the three of them follow the trail of chocobos to the parking spot. They can already see Gladio loading up the Regalia, with two of the chocobos nipping gently at his arm and hair in affection. He laughs, pushing them back before pretending to pull one into the boot.

“Kweeh!” It squawks and flaps its large wings at Gladio before nuzzling him. Prompto can only assume that because of Gladio’s bulk and feather tattoos, they think he is a long lost black chocobo. He smiles, wondering how long the game will go on for and if he will have more time to spend with his feathered friends.

Ignis sighs, bringing him back to reality as Noct is still kicking off about the player making them camp.

“We do all the hard work! Hunt after hunt, quest after quest! We’ve handed out so many potions and vehicle repair kits today, the least we deserve is a decent night’s sleep!” He gets no reply, and the three lapsed into silence for the rest of the walk. Gladio is already sitting in his usual seat as Noctis approaches the Regalia.

It is nigh on dark already, most of the light gone with only the tiniest slither of red and orange leaking out over the horizon. The sun will be completely set within the 5 minutes. He’ll have to drive fast and well to avoid the daemons, but Noct is determined they are not camping again.

“Noct…” Ignis puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping him just as he reaches for the door handle. He spins, glaring at Ignis.

“Ignis, don’t even go there.” Ignis dusts his shoulder and quickly steps back.

“You had a little dirt on your jacket, that’s all. Right, shall we set off then?” He climbs into the back seat without another word.

Noct jumps in the front seat, closing the door with a little more force than necessary. He speeds off towards Hammerhead, their nearest station with a bed.


	4. In-Game Entertainment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many good tracks for driving around Eos! I have between 5 and 10 tracks that I rotate through constantly when driving. Quite often I choose not to fast travel just so I can listen to them...

It’s been a peaceful day for the Chosen King and his band of merry men. A few hunts around the local area, nothing too challenging, and a couple of photo quests.

Mostly they had explored the surrounding landscape, travelling mainly by chocobo with a couple of quick car journeys and killing whatever creatures they came across. They had even been left at Coernix rest area, so no need to travel for comfort and sustenance.

Ignis sat on his own in one of the white plastic garden chairs that were the makeshift outdoor café. There were 3 stalls nearby selling various street food, but only between gaming sessions. He gave a thumbs up to Gladio who stood at the stall on the far right, was choosing a selection of wraps, kebabs and salads.

Noct and Prompto were in the shop nearby, buying a few drinks. Noct was trying to reassure Prompto that the player wouldn’t notice the difference in Gil and to stop worrying.

“Maybe we should barter? Yeah, lets barter.” Prompto asks and then answers himself. He steps up to the cashier, trying to decide if he should go for a charm offensive or offer to do a side-quest for him to secure a long-term discount.

Noct shakes his head and tries to intervene.

“Prom, we don’t do that here.” He smiles apologetically to the cashier, who is looking confused, asking for the full amount of Gil. Prompto shakes Noct off with a less than subtle wink.

“Noct, it’s ok, I’ve got this!”

Opting for an easy life, he shrugs casually and walks off with a quick “Whatever.”

He wanders over to the outdoor seating, noting that Ignis is humming quietly. Taking a seat, he shoots an amused glance at the adviser, sat with his eyes closed waiting for either of the two parties to return.

In the distance, the door of the shop bangs open, and Prompto comes tumbling out.

“Fine! I didn’t want them, anyway!” He stomps over to the table in a huff. Ignis doesn’t even ask, he simply goes back to humming his tune. Noct twists in his seat to check what Galdio was buying before turning back and sharing a look with Prompto.

“Is that…”

“Don’t be afraid?” They both ask. Ignis sighs.

“Yes. I can’t get that bloody music out of my head!” The player had done a series of short car journeys for the last few days and had kept that track playing in the background continuously.

“It’s pretty good, but they should at least play something from our own game.” Noct sits back, looking at the Regalia parked near the petrol pumps. He couldn’t see how any element of another game even come close to theirs. Even if the track claimed to be from another game in the same series.

“Even Kingsglaive would be better than nothing.” Prompto agrees. “I enjoy calling for rain, although it does always seem to start raining whenever it’s on. Spicy skewers! Yes!” He cries at Gladio arrives loaded down with two trays of various food items.

The mixture of herbs, spices, and sweet smoky sauce immediately has their stomachs growling. Gladio places the food on the table and indicates for everyone to tuck in.

“What are you guys talking about?” He grabs a meat wrap, adding extra sauce and folds it carefully, not wanting to lose a single bit of food.

“… Mu…sic..” Noct talks through his salad leaves, making Ignis shake his head. “… in the car.”

Gladio nods through his own large bite of dough, meat and salad, but has the decency to wait until he is finished chewing before speaking.

“Hm, I like Battle on–“

“… the big bridge.” Both Noct and Prompto say in unison, nodding, rolling their eyes and each ending with their own separate sentiments.

“Yeah, we know.”

“We get it, almighty shield.” Prompto does a fake bow to him and devours a handful of spicy kebabs.

“What? Just sayin’.” Gladio shrugs his shoulders, quietly waiting for each of them to have their own DLC and see how proud of the music they are. He pauses mid-bite, looking at Prompto and then Ignis before thinking,

_Carnival themes and elevator music._

They eat quietly for the next 10 minutes, devouring the dishes like a pack of starving coeurls. It isn’t until after every morsel is gone, not a crumb in sight, and Noct has been back to the shop to buy the drinks that Prompto couldn’t, that Gladio speaks again.

“You know what I am sick of though?” The others wait, Prompto still licking random drops of sauce off his fingers and the back of his hands. “My book. I’ve been reading it a lot more in the car lately, especially on the longer trips like last week.”

“Didn’t you get a new one a while back?” Prompto asks. He’d noticed a few chapters previously that Gladio had a green book now rather than the red and blue he used to, and had been meaning to ask him how it compares to the last one.

“Nah, it’s the same book, but with a different cover.” The other three look at him in sympathy. He did read the book a lot.

Noct shakes his head. The developers could have at least given him a few books to read. “Cheapskates.”


	5. What happens in the Vesperpool, stays in the Vesperpool…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two parts happen simultaneously. I like the idea that Ardyn knows everything about everyone regardless of where he is in the game.

“Red hat, glasses? Have you met her?” Noct looks at the chancellor, resting his head along the handrail of the stairs leading to the airship. The two of them are sat part way up the stairs, Noct not wanting to stray too far from Ignis and Prompto who were chatting with Aranea near the dungeon entrance.

“Ah yes.” Ardyn drawls in his warm, viscous voice “What a charming creature.”

Noct isn’t sure where Ardyn would have come across Sania but he doesn’t ask. He has a feeling Ardyn sees a lot more of Eos than any of the rest of them do.

“Hm, not sure I’d say charming. Demanding, bossy, jobsworth… any of those.” He looks off across the boggy plains of the Vesperpool. They were due to enter a dungeon soon, the player had clearly decided to save the game and leave it until another day.

“She can never just say hi, how are you boys doing? It’s always, find me this mutated frog…”

“Well Prince – I mean…King Noctis, I find I do not have that issue with her. Being chancellor of Niflheim means I am simply too busy with far more important responsibilities to be someone’s…dogsbody.”

Noct lets the dig go and does nothing more than raise an eyebrow in the older man’s direction. Ardyn chuckles, a finger pressed to his lips in a poor impression of seeming coy.

“Forgive me. I could not resist. You always seem to be running here, there and everywhere. Do NPC’s not realise you have a greater calling?”

Noct gives a wry smile. “ I ask myself that everyday Chancellor.”

“Please, call me Ardyn.” He smiles, warmly, taking his hat off and running his hand through his red tinged hair. “Your friends, they seem a good bunch. Amiable, helpful.”

“They are.” Noct can’t help the smile that breaks out over his face. “Those guys are the best.”

“But I see you are missing one. The tall, domineering, brash one.” Noct smirks, not sure if Ardyn meant it as an insult or not. It was an apt description for Gladio.

“Yeah, he’s er…otherwise engaged at the moment.” Gladio had taken his leave at the end of the previous chapter. The group weren’t sure where he was or when he was coming back, but he was no longer available during or out of gameplay.

Noct would be lying if he said it wasn’t inconvenient to lose the character with the highest HP, poor Prompto taking the brunt of the player’s aggressive combat style. It hadn’t stopped the player continuing on with various side-quests, although Noct had noticed an increase in purchases of Hi-Potions.

The prince shivers slightly in the chilly, foggy air, goosebumps spreading over his bare arms.

“Your Majesty, you must be freezing. We are in the Vesperpool after all, where is your jacket?” Ardyn leans forward, concern on his face. Noct shrugs before answering.

“The player prefers us in certain attires. Come rain or shine, I’m in a t-shirt. Ignis has the worse of it though. He’s been wearing wet clothes for weeks now. Although I think he’s more bothered by having his hair in his face.”

Noct feels a line of warmth around his neck. He looks down to see Ardyn’s scarf wrapped around him, the ends covering his arms and instantly warming the cold damp skin. He looks over his shoulder at his in-game frenemy, snuggling into the heat of the scarf.

“Thanks.” His voice is small, and he folds his arms fully into him, burying his face in the woollen fabric. He inhales, not meaning too and is instantly struck by a sense of familiarity. Echoes of a memory that he cannot place, as if it had happened too far in the past or has yet to come about.

He looks at Ardyn, his nose still buried in the fabric. “You’re pretty nice when you’re not in-game, being creepy and coming onto me.”

Ardyn gives him a dead stare as if he can’t believe that Noct has said that, whilst at the same time understanding why he said it.

“I cannot tell you the ways in which that is inappropriate.” The stare tells Noct he was definitely barking up the wrong tree. “Suffice it to say, I am not interested in you, King of the _Lucii_.” He enunciates Noct’s name before looking across the distance, his lips curling once more into a suggestive smile.

“Your Shield however…”

Noct smirks himself. He had never said anything to Gladio before. Wouldn’t dream of it. But here, with Gladio who knows where and his friends out of hearing distance? He leans back, his elbows resting on the next step above him as he nods knowingly.

“Yeah, he’s pretty easy on the eye.”

Noctis Lucis Caelum and Ardyn Izunia share a conspiratorial chuckle with one another as they watch over the Vesperpool, waiting for the game to continue, and their fates to be played out accordingly.

****

Prompto ran his hand over the spear, feeling the weight in his hands wondering how the hell Aranea manages to throw it around like it were no more than a pencil.

“Wow, this is er…this is some weapon.” He looks up, Aranea smiling obligingly, but her gaze keeps switching to Ignis, sat on the other side of the makeshift fire.

The three of them had found a relatively sheltered area just inside the ruins, before the entrance of the dungeon. Ignis had started a small fire with an elemancy flask courtesy of Noct, followed swiftly by Aranea whispering to him as she walked past.

“Knew I could count on you Ignis, to get a girl fired up.” Ignis, had chosen to ignore her. Mainly because he had no decent reply other than simply staring at her.

“I mean, seriously Aranea, how the heck do you use this thing?” Prompto looks at her in admiration as she begins taking the main bulk of her armour off. She shrugs easily, thinking how the spear is now almost part of her, like a second limb. She doesn’t even need to think anymore to perform her techniques.

“What can I say?” She looks directly at Ignis as she strips her armour from her arms, leaving the pale smooth skin, bare and on show. “I know my way around a lance.” She unhooks her outer skirt, dropping it down over her leather trousers to the ground.

Ignis, again is silent. His gaze however, never once leaves Aranea. He wonders briefly if Noct is suitably entertained, and how on Eos he can get Prompto to go and find him when he realises that he really shouldn’t be trying to sneak off with a woman he barely knew, and for all intents and purposes was an enemy each time their paths had crossed.

He hadn’t even had a chance to talk to Aranea outside of game play before, other that the last 20 minutes of polite chit-chat she had exchanged with Prompto. It was becoming abundantly clear however, that he had clearly left an impression on her.

With her helmet, gloves, arm and leg armour as well as her skirt removed, Aranea let down her hair from the high ponytail, tussling it, the silver locks cascaded about her shoulders and face. Her head tilted to the side as she bites her lip, she removes her leather bodice.

Oblivious to Prompto dropping her weapon as he gapes at her, she lets the bodice dangle from her hand for a second before it falls on the growing pile of Aranea clothing effects. Green eyes meet green for a moment, before Ignis drops his gaze lower than her face. She stands in her leather trousers and a mid-cut black lace bralette, showing her toned, slim midriff.

“Ignis, would you like a tour of the ruins?” The adviser is up and on his feet before she’s finished asking.

“Yes. Yes I would.” He follows her with a brief glance down at Prompto. “Guard the fire.”

Prompto rolls his eyes. “You know I’m not actually as naïve as I am during game-play Ignis.”

But Ignis has already gone, pulled along by Aranea. They round a couple of corners until Aranea has found a suitably secluded spot. She stops abruptly, pushing Ignis hard against the stone walls of the ruin.

“You look deliciously unkempt Mr Scientia.” Her face close, her breath so warm in the cool Vesperpool air that it steams the lower part of his glasses. She slides a hand into his hair and the other around his waist. Ignis pulls her to him, both hands on the small on her back, heading lower and resting over the pert round cheeks of her butt.

“Why is your hair so wet?” She can’t help but ask, curiosity taking her out of the moment for a second.

“It’s my attire, the player determines what we wear. Apparently, this enhances my strength.”

“Does it now?” She smiles flirtatiously. “Hm, I like it. You look better with your hair down.” She nips at his jaw, biting gently before kissing him hard on his mouth.

“I’m inclined to think the player would agree with you.” He returns the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth and squeezing her ass tightly. They kiss, hard and hungry as Aranea begins pulling at his shirt.

“What, no dinner first?” Ignis quips as he bites her lip, his hand already sliding under her bralette, fingers travelling round to the front.

“I’m unlikely to get many chances to see you again.” She pauses in the kisses, unbuckling his belt and unzipping his trousers. “I want to take the opportunity while I can.”

Her lips press against his, her tongue teasing as she drops his trousers. She pulls away and looks at him. “Are you complaining?”

“No, not complaining.” He smirks, kisses her again and pulls her back to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote Aranea’s quip about knowing her way around a lance I had no idea that there is a very similar quote in the game between her and Gladio.
> 
> I’m still finding out new things about this game and the boys and I love it! 
> 
> Aranea/Ignis is the only F/M ship I can get on board with. As the best female character in the game, she deserved more screen time.


	6. A Costume of Cruel Irony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love to Prompto ❤️

Gladio serves up the fourth bowl of the burly bean stew and gives a shout to Prompto, who is still sat outside the caravan.

Noctis and Ignis head over to the table, taking their seats, excited to eat. With the player saving at the caravan, it meant the boys didn’t have a chance to eat in the cutscene and all of them were past hangry.

“Prompto, foods up, I’m not telling you again.” Gladio shouts for the second time over his shoulder, giving the saucepan a quick rinse. Still no sign of the blond.

Noct looks at Ignis before getting up from the small dining table. “I’ll go and check on him.”

Ignis nods, taking a small mouthful of soup, completely content that he didn’t have to make it.

Noct heads outside and stops at the sight of Prompto, hunched over in his chair, furthest away from the door. He couldn’t see his face but he can tell from the slump of his shoulders and the small noises escaping from him that he was crying.

Noct ducks his head back inside, gesturing at the other two to come out. With everyone together, he slowly approaches Prompto.

Every inch of Prompto is covered with his attire, including his face and head. The angular shoulder braces scratch Noct on the arm as he places a hand tenderly over Prompto’s. The exterior to the exosuit is cold and hard, a stark contrast to the sweet boy trapped inside it. Noct’s voice is low and soft as he calls his name.

“Prompto?” Prom flinches, turning further away from Noct. The king says nothing else but closes his hand more firmly over the gloved one, linking their fingers together as much as he can.

Prompto is quiet for a moment, not saying anything. But he doesn’t push Noct away.

“Guys, don’t look at me when I’m wearing this…” They can barely make out his voice through the suit, but they hear enough for each of their hearts to break.

“Oh, Prompto.” Noct pulls him close to his chest, his arms wrapped around Prompto in the Magitek suit. His sombrero catching on the helmet and arm guards as he hugs him.

“Don’t worry about it Prom, you don’t have to feel bad around us. We know who you are.” Noct smiles, and although he can’t see his friend’s expression, he hopes he is smiling back at him.

Gladio casts a large shadow as he looms over them both. He places one hand firmly on Prompto’s shoulder, squeezing him gently. “Yeah, you’re one of us.”

Ignis appears at the other side, embracing the rest of them and locking Prompto in the middle of the group hug. “You are our little chocobro Prompto, that is all we see when we look at you, no matter what mask you are forced to wear.”

The head of the Magitek suit looks up at them.

“… Really?” Comes the hesitant, quiet question.

Noct doesn’t answer but grabs his helmeted face and gives him a big kiss on the embossed mouth. He laughs, hearing the surprised noise from Prompto. Gladio follows suit, kissing him hard on the forehead of the exosuit. Ignis is a close third, kissing him delicately on the cheek.

They hear the sweet sound of Prompto’s laughter through the suit.

“I love you guys…” They head back inside, Noct wrapping his arm around Prom for the brief journey to the steps of the caravan.

Gladio rubs his hands together before announcing in a booming voice, “Let’s eat!”

Prompto stops. “Er guys… I’m not sure I can eat…”

Noctis pulls his face to his again and studies the attire. There seemed no obvious opening for the mouth, or even a seam where Prompto could take the helmet off.

“Well, this should be interesting…”


	7. Rocky Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! 😊
> 
> I may have taken a few liberties with the ability to save here as Ravatogh is a dungeon. Ah well…

Prompto crawls along the last few steps to the haven and collapses, full body to the sandy ground. His voice, hoarse from shouting and the sulphur in the air, rasps out,

“Why did they think this would be a good place to stop playing?!”

The heat of the volcano can still be felt, even from the safety of the haven. The jagged rocks and mountain walls covered with a fine layer of sandy dirt. Noct collapses right beside Prompto, breathing heavily. Ignis, who never looks out of breath even when he’s dying, stays upright as Gladio drops down onto a nearby rock, getting just enough air to say,

“It did take us a while to get up here. Maybe they had to go to bed or something?”

Noct scoffs, “Gravel cliffs, rocky paths over a molten pit, rock climbing, lava pools… You’re not doing the journey justice Gladio.”

Ignis nods in agreement, looking out over the large open plain below “We did do rather a lot of fighting on the way up.”

“And falling…”

“And sliding.” Came the two small voices from the ground.

All four are quiet for a few moments. The sounds of wyvern respawning can be heard in the distance. Prompto is the first to talk, as usual.

“We didn’t even get up here in time to take that stupid picture for Vyv.”

“At least we know where to go to take it.” Noct tried to see the glass half full in the situation, but the sentiment didn’t quite stretch to his tone of voice.

Gladio stands, stretching his back and legs, the rock perch not quite as comfortable as he had hoped. He joins Iggy and looks over the edge of the haven wondering what awaits them down there.

“What’s it to be then? Shall we just stay here?”

Noct pats his chest, grimacing. “They’ve taken my stamina badge off so I’m not sure I can make it down and back up again in time.”

Ignis says what Noct didn’t. “Let’s call it a night and hope the player returns tomorrow to finish the quest.” Prompto groans and Noct falls back to the ground as a light breeze blows dust and hot air their way.

Ignis cleans his glasses and sighs “I suppose I’ll make a start on dinner.” 

Gladio places a warm hand on his shoulder. “It’s OK Iggy, I’ve got this. Have the night off.” The adviser smiles up at him.

“Thank you Gladio.”

“No problem.” He turns to the other two boys, grinning and rubbing his hands together. “Cup Noodles alright for everyone?” A chorus of complaints sound out.

“Again?”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Really Gladiolus, must we?”

Noct jumps up, jabbing a finger at Gladio “You’re supposed to be a survival expert and all you can make is Cup Noodles?!”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules, OK. Its noodles or nothing, your choice.” There is short moment where the three of them genuinely consider having nothing, but Gladio has already started preparing some water to boil.

Prompto momentarily wishes that they all had decent cooking skills before considering that he would then have to cook something if they did.

Instead, he asks in an almost whisper, hoping not to be heard,

“Do you need any help?” Gladio quickly shakes his head at the half-hearted offer.

“Hell no, not from you. Last time you ‘helped’, you tripped while taking a picture, knocking a full pot of water onto the fire, losing our meal and heat source in two seconds flat.”

“One time, that happened once!” Prompto clambers to his feet, tripping on a loose pebble as he does so. Ignis steps in between Gladio and Prompto.

“Why don’t the two of you go and collect some wood for the fire?” Ignis smiles politely, taking both Noct and Prom by their arms and pushing them a little towards a path leading away from the haven.

Noct looks at him like he’s just hit his head. “It’s a magical fire Ignis.”

Looking around as if he’s missed something Prompto follows with “…and we’re on a volcano, there aren’t any trees here.”

Ignis closes his eyes and exhales before pasting on a large fake smile.

“Fine, then why don’t the two of you just go for a walk and stay out of the way.” He gives them a nudge and turns on his heel, walking away.

“Rude.” Noct mutters.

“Do you ever get the feeling they treat us like little kids?”

“It’s not a feeling Prom. Come on, we’ll just head a little way down this path, shouldn’t take Gladio long to make his culinary feast anyway.” He ends the last of his sentence using his fingers as quotation marks.

They set off, taking care on the mountain path and on alert for any nasties waiting to ambush them. Part way, Noct feels a repetitive, excited tap on his arm.

“Hey Noct! Look at this!” Prompto jumps up and down, pointing at the glass gemstone tucked away behind the elemancy fire deposit on a precarious ledge. “What’s the betting the player misses this tomorrow huh?”

The blond grins and edges his way past the magical spikes and out onto the ledge. Noct nods knowingly,

“Yeah, they’ll probably be too worried about…”

“Waaahhhh!” Prompto’s back foot slips over the edge, his arms try to grab at air as he slides over the embankment. Noct lunges forward, throwing himself to the ground while summoning the Drain Lance. Prompto seizes the end just in time, his fingers curled around the shaft, knuckles white with effort, his legs and body dangle in the air.

Noct drags him back onto the ledge, grasps a handful of his jacket and throws him over the other side of the fire point to the safety of the volcano wall. They both draw in ragged breaths, Noct pinning Prompto with a dark glare.

“…That.”

“….Oops.” Prompto shrugs, brushing himself down. ”Thanks.”

Shaking his head, Noct keeps a tight hold of Prom. “Back to camp for you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On my first time up this mountain I didn’t even find the haven (I know, just how?!). I had the guys standing around in the only safe place I could find, from 2pm til sun-up so I could take that stupid photo…


	8. A Walk for Two...Different People

Noctis and Iris lounge over the front steps of the Leville Hotel. The sun had set but the city lights kept the NPCs awake. The two of them had endured an awkward side quest earlier and now the rest of the chocobros were teasing them saying they should be left alone to let their love blossom.

“Urgh, I can’t believe it.” Iris stamps her feet in frustration. “I finally get a chance to be involved in this game and I’m stuck flirting with you!” She turns to him, a barely concealed scowl on her face. “I mean, thanks, but no thanks. How disgusting can you get?”

Noctis tries not to be a little offended by her tone, but he does agree with how uncomfortable the whole quest had made him.

Iris had acted as a Lestallum tour guide earlier in the day, taking Noct first to the market, and then on to the powerplant. Noctis had tried his best to be interested, mainly because he had no choice, that was what the player had chosen when given an option. Although he had to admit, even his ‘interested’ voice sounded like he couldn’t give a shit.

“Tell me about it.” He mutters.

“I’m 15, Noct. 15! And you’re old!” She turns away trying to pull the hem of her skirt down, suddenly aware of how short it was.

“Old?! I’m 20!”

“Exactly! Talk about jailbait…”

Noct scoffs at her, leaning back on his elbows, missing the in-game Iris who at least wasn’t so crude.

“Hardly,” he mutters. “I’m engaged.”

It’s Iris’ turn to sound incredulous as she turns back to the prince, giving him the once over.

“Barely! Cleary Lunafreya is too old for you if you’re sniffing around a teenager.” She frowns at him and flicks her short hair, turning away innocently.

His eyes widen and he stutters trying to come up with a response

“What the?!” After minute he shouts into the hotel. “Gladio! Get your ass over here and sort your sister out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is complete headcannon for after that quest - no one can convince me otherwise!


	9. Right Button, Wrong Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you haven’t played for a while…

“Is everything alright Noct?” Ignis looks at him, his brow furrowed in worry. ”I must say you have been acting peculiar all day.”

Prompto nodded, his face in agreement with Ignis’ concern as he holds Noct’s hand.

The boys had been on their own for several game months now, the player seemingly having more important tasks to do. They had spent a good while staying at Hammerhead with Cid and Cindy before rushing back to their last save point when they finally heard the tell-tale chime and whirl of the console fan.

The group had been directed to a few different areas that day, taking part in easy hunts, gaining money they didn’t need, and exploring previously unvisited areas of the map.

Each time they arrived at a rest area or parking spot, Noct had exited the Regalia with no problems. But then, on walking away, Noct would abruptly stop, rather than sprinting off as normal, only for the side menu to be opened. This would instantly be followed by the opening of another menu.

No commands would take place, the player didn’t even look through the gear or elemancy options. They would simply close the menu, and then with a random jump, Noct would suddenly start sprinting.

It was odd, but the others had gone along with it, the first few times. After a while, the behaviour seemed too strange to be coming from the player, which led Ignis to believe that Noct could have been glitching.

“I’m fine, it was just the player being weird.” He brushes it off, not worried as he knew the commands had come from the controller. Prom ran his thumb over Noct’s hand, squeezing his fingers lightly with his own.

“Why would they make you do that though?” Noctis shrugged his shoulders. Prompto tugs on his hand, leaning into Noct, his chin resting on his shoulder as he continues talking.

“It’s the same when they are choosing a place to park, you know?” He looks up at Noct through his lashes. “They alternate between parking spot and map point on the menu, but then its like they forget what option they are actually on. Before you know it, we’re auto driving somewhere, only to stop, get out the car, get back in and drive somewhere else.”

Gladio laughs humourlessly, “Not to mention that place will still be the wrong location, and we have to do it all over again. Just as well we’ve got unlimited fuel now.”

Luckily the player had managed to direct them to Longwythe Rest Area before logging off for the day, meaning the boys could at least stay in a motel for a change.

Noct nods at Gladio, absentmindedly placing a quick kiss on Prompto’s cheek. “Players are stupid.”

“We should be allowed to play, just do our own thing.” Gladio leans back on door of the car, crossing his arms in contemplation at having complete freedom within the game.

“You sort of already do. I’m tired of _someone_ …” Noct looks pointedly at Prompto and lifts their joined hands to kiss his knuckles. “…wandering off when he’s supposed to stay in the group.”

“Hey! I get distracted easily! I can’t help it…” He pouts as Noct leads them over the road past the van-come-market stall just outside the diner. 

A customer at the van waves their thanks to the cashier, stuffing a few potions in their bag as the boys meander past.

“Bye now!” The cashier smiles broadly, her goodbye about 3 decibels louder and more perky than it needed to be. Noct turns his head away, his eyes closed against the brash tone.

“So loud, and so not needed.” He yawns as they head into the diner, weighing up if he is more hungry or tired, even as they enter.

“She’s like a female Prompto.” Ignis muses, as he holds the door open for the others, smiling at Prompto while teasing him for being loud. 

“What?” Gladio smirks and punches Prom on the shoulder. “Not needed?”

“Hey!” Prompto turns, raising an arm of his own. He drops it sharply knowing that a hit to Gladio would hurt himself more than the shield. Noct however, turns and faces Gladio with a thunderous expression and a finger jab to his chest.

“Too far big guy, apologise.”

Gladio leaves it a few seconds to respond, but he eventually apologises, whilst rolling his eyes.

“OK fine, I’m sorry.” He mutters as they take their seats. “Just because he’s the favourite.” He can’t help but add, earning a whack across the head from Ignis, with a menu.

“Don’t be childish Gladio.” Ignis immediately delves into the menu to avoid any inevitable sickeningly sweet and adorable display of affection between the two youngest men.

Prompto beams as Noct, still holding his hand, squeezes his fingers and says, “Damn right he is.”

Noct pulls him into an embrace and gives him a kiss on the cheek as Prompto sticks his tongue out at Gladio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the only time I’ll write anything Promptis related. I adore these two and their dynamic, but I prefer their love for one another to be platonic ❤️


	10. Off my chair, Prompto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It goes without saying that this is an epic quote so I apologise in advance for taking an amazing moment and making it ridiculous 😂

“Dude! That was amazing!” Prompto switches from laughing and excitable to standing tall and sombre as he imitates Noct and his line. “Off my chair, jester. The king sits there…” He high fives Noct.

The king acts modest for about three seconds before breaking into a grin.

“I know right! I just said it, it just came to me, I didn’t even have to think of it!” He waves his arm, gesticulating to himself, grinning and more animated than he should be given Ardyn had just killed him in game.

Ignis and Gladio share an exasperated look, the adviser shaking his head at the giddy king,

“Noctis, that is how all of our lines work, as you well know.”

“Yeah, you can hardly take credit for it, you didn’t even write it.” Gladio scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

Noctis turns to them both, his expression serious but, still childlike, under all the Insomnian dirt and grime.

“Hey, I said it. It came from my mouth, so I take the credit.” Prompto pulls on his arm to get his attention, all smiles, bubbles and overdue enthusiasm.

“OK, OK, come here…” Prompto pushes Noct into a nearby chair. “You be the king…no wait, you already are. I mean you be Ardyn and I’ll be you…”

Noct instantly relaxes all of his muscles, his legs soft and his arms hanging lifeless over the sides of the chair, a very lazy and casual impression of Ardyn on the throne.

The sound of red giants pacing the streets of a crushed Insomnia can be heard as Prompto gets into position.

Prompto steps out from the shadows, a hand on his chest, holding the lapel of his Kingsglaive attire. He takes a dramatic step forward, sweeping his other hand around in front of him as if addressing a large crowd of dignities. He puts on a cringe-worthy voice, low and snooty as he announces,

“Off my chair, jester. I, the King, sit there!” Noct immediately bursts out laughing, clutching his stomach and doubling over.

“Prom, you totally sound like a love child of Gladio and Ignis!” Both boys collapse about each other sniggering, with Noct demanding Prompto repeat his impression.

The shield and adviser stand side by side watching with quiet expressions. Their Chosen King and human chocobo performing more ridiculous and elaborate impressions as the chaotic world outside continues its nightmarish existence.

Gladio, arms crossed, leans over to Ignis slightly, his voice low so only he can hear.

“Do you ever find yourself wishing that we were killed off in Chapter Twelve?”

Prompto’s ‘entrances’ became more extravagant. he launches himself from a nearby bench, brandishing a sword at Noct, who is barely able to breathe, never mind respond due to laughing so hard. “I said out, damn you, out of my chair this instance, you _clown,_ you!”

Ignis sighs as the state of the two of them.

“I cannot lie Gladio, it has crossed my mind once or twice.”


	11. Return of the Shield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was at this point in the game on my first play through that I decided Noct/Gladio needed to happen. Like right there in the power plant...

It was him. It had to be. Noctis wasn’t sure of much anymore, but that gruff voice, all baritone and rugged sex appeal…

It belonged to Gladio without a shadow of a doubt.

Noct didn’t have time to speculate on exactly where Gladio had been, or why he had returned now – and to a power plant of all places. It was in-game so he could only do what was written for him. Suddenly, the dim lights of the power plant cut out, the screen, and surrounding location pitched into black.

Noctis blinked and found himself back at the main road to Lestallum, lights back on and Ignis and Prompto in tow.

“What the….how did we get here? What happened?” He whips his head around in all directions, no idea how they ended up there. Ignis does the same, before cocking his head to the background noise. There is quiet whirring in the distance.

“I’m not sure, a glitch of some sort? Is that…a fan?” Ignis walks towards the noise. “Sounds like the console overheated?”

“They have been playing _a lot_ today.” Prompto heads straight for a stall selling street food. Regardless of how they got there, he’s hungry.

“By all accounts, it doesn’t explain why we are _here._ If anything we should be back with Aranea on the ship.” Ignis rests his hands on his hips and turns to Noct, the king looking up at the power plant in the distance.

“Doesn’t matter.” Noct’s voice is quiet, his mind already elsewhere. “I’ll meet you at the hotel in a bit.” He doesn’t wait for an answer, and sets off as fast as he can, up the main street, taking the steps two at time. Ignis tries to call after him.

“That won’t work, Noct.” It’s too late, the king is well out of hear shot and wouldn’t stop, even if he weren’t.

Running through the streets as fast as he can, up the stairs, bearing right, past the restaurant, through the alleyway, left, up some more stairs. It’s not fast enough, he can only jog casually through the town rather than his usual sprinting speed in open areas.

He eventually reaches the barrier to the powerplant. Holly isn’t there. Not a good sign. He tries to leap over the gate but is stopped so he tries warping even though he knows he can’t.

Tugging at his hair he paces for a while, before calling out to Gladio. No answer. He leans his arms over the barrier, kicking the metal railing in frustration. Looking at the darkened entrance to the power plant, he stays there for a while before heading back to the hotel.

Arriving at the hotel, sullen and quiet Noctis brushes past Ignis. The adviser opens his mouth, as if to say something but is sharply cut off by an icy glare.

“Don’t say it. Just don’t.”

****

The next gaming session is a long one. Gladio is back with them, but Noct hasn’t had chance to talk to him properly other than the lines fed to him from the game. He doesn’t even get much opportunity to really look at him due to always sprinting off the minute he exits the Regalia.

The main thing is that Gladio is back with the team, and he seems to be in one piece.

It isn’t until they rest at Cape Caem that the player finally turns off the game. Noctis sighs with relief when the world dims as the usual three note sound rings out. He had been worried that the player was heading straight for the boat.

Noct leaps off his bed at the same time as Gladio grabs hold of him. Their fingers move, holding faces, arms then hands, checking that each other are fine, even though they know they are.

Gladio is the first to speak, his voice rippling through Noct. It’s the first time he has heard that rich sound speak directly to his non-playing self.

“Gods I missed you.” He feels the calloused hands gently hold his face.

“You were gone so long…” Noct closes his eyes as Gladio rests his forehead on his.

“Not by choice, Princess.” He kisses him, long and slow, like he had been anticipating it for the length of his absence.

Ignis and Prompto make a quick but quiet exit, not wanting to disturb either of them. Prompto makes one exception to the ‘quiet’ part as he stubs his toe on the way out of the darkened room, grimacing and cursing that the floors were too realistic, and why would someone create a loose floorboard in a game anyway? Ignis drags him out and pulls the door closed behind them.

They needn’t have worried, the king and the shield’s attention saved solely for each other.

They pull away from the kiss, Noct looking up and gingerly running a hand over the new scar on his face as he asks “Are you ok?”

Gladio smiles, holding Noct’s hand and kissing it before resting it on his chest.

“I am now.”

Noct smiles, then lowers his gaze. “I tried to see you at Lestallum.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what that was about. I couldn’t get back. I was stuck inside with the daemons, which made things…interesting for a while.” Seeing the look of horror on Noct’s face, he follows it quickly with “It’s fine, I was able to hold up in the elevator between floors.” He presses his lips to Noct’s, hard, cutting off any arguments.

“Please don’t leave me like that again.” Noctis murmurs against Gladio, pulling at his tank top, dragging it over his head. He runs his hands along the familiar strength of the tattooed arms . Gladio pushes his hands under Noct’s jacket, it dropping to the floor. His shirt follows.

“I don’t intend to. The only place I want to be is right here, right now.” Noct runs his hands over Gladio’s chest and feeling the thick new scar, jumps back.

“Gladio…” he looks at the scar and traces it gingerly with his fingers. Its large and ugly and cuts right through the middle of his pecs. “What did they do to you?” Noct’s voice is thick with emotion.

Gladio takes his hand again, holds it over his heart and gives Noct a peck on the lips.

“It wasn’t their fault, it happened during a cutscene.” Noctis scowls, not satisfied with the answer. He presses his lips to the scar.

“That’s not good enough. You’re the shield, they should have taken better care of you.”

Gladio smiles, his heart finally whole as he is reunited with Noct. He pulls him into his chest and devours him, pushing his lips hard against Noct’s, who responds with just as much affection. 

“Hm...” Gladio hums between kisses. “Well, they aren’t here right now. So, I guess you have to take care of me instead.” Noct smirks, his hands already at Gladio’s belt.

“Oh don’t worry. I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random thought I had while writing this - Where is the 6ft 6 female NPC that Gladio borrowed his suit from?


	12. Episode Prompto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally planned to post this in a few days but I've brought it forward after realising none of my other ones were actually complete! I was feeling the love for Prompto today anyway 😊

Prompto kicks the side of the vending machine, the cans of ebony inside rattle around. He lets out a frustrated sigh before throwing a can of coffee at the wall, the metal bursting on impact and iced coffee spraying everywhere.

“Son of a bitch, Noct!” Prompto hits the wall. He knows it isn’t really Noct’s fault, both for game-play reasons and being tricked by Ardyn. It doesn’t change the fact that the prince pushed him clean off the train and now here he was, on his own, no party members to rely on and in the worst place imaginable. 

He wonders if this is his life now. If this is the path for his character and that he will never find his way back to the others. He falls onto the floor, wedging himself between the wall and the drinks machine. Closing his eyes, he tries not to think about what tomorrow’s game session will bring.

There is a dull sound nearby, a heavy clunk, clunk of metal footsteps. Feeling a shadow fall over him, he looks up, his eyes meeting the faceless visor of a Magitek trooper.

“Mr Argentum?” The voice is quiet, hesitant, and very childlike, offset by the gun, still in its hands. It’s unnerving and endearing at the same time.

“…Yes.” Prompto answers, just as hesitantly. While he didn’t expect the MTs to be his enemies out of game time, one could never be too careful. The Magitek trooper immediately drops his gun to the side, holding his armoured hands to a metal head.

“Oh my gosh! It’s such an honour to meet you! I saw you before, but we were…well.” It pauses and lowers its hands. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you earlier.”

Prompto shrugs his shoulders. “It happens, a lot. Don’t worry about it.”

The MT gestures to the floor, “May I?”.

Prompto raises an eyebrow, but nods, giving his permission for the MT to join him.

“Oh gosh, Prompto – may I call you Prompto?” It doesn’t wait for a response for rushing on, its voice sounding even more like a small child in its excited state. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here, with you! We’ve heard so much about you. About what you get up to in the other game.”

“We?”

“Yes, the other MTs. We cycle through various scenes and DLCs. There are only so many unique MTs, so we get recycled a lot. While we’ve never had a scene together until now, I was hoping I would get a chance to meet you one day!”

“Oh…” Prompto was at a loss for words, a trait quite unlike him, whether he was being fed lines or not. “Er…It’s nice to meet you too?”

“Tell me…” The trooper puts its heavy metal arm on Prompto’s leg. “What’s it like? Getting to explore Eos properly? Having... friends?”

Prompto can’t help but smile, feeling in some ways he is looking at himself, the MT so friendly and chipper.

“It’s amazing! The world is so beautiful, there are tons of interesting NPC’s to meet! And the guys are great…when they aren’t throwing you off trains…” Prompto smirks. “It can get pretty smelly and tiring though!”

The MT sits back slightly. Prompto can almost imagine the open-mouthed expression under the armour.

“The food, oh my gods the food! Everything tastes fantastic! And the chocobos! Oh, I miss chocobos.” It had been a long few chapters for Prompto now and he was beginning to realise just how separated he was from the gameplay he had come to know and love.

The trooper tilts its head. “Chocobos?” It asks in wonder. Prompto gapes at him in shock. He leans forward, pulling the MT heavily by a metal arm, bringing him to sit by his side, shoulder to shoulder. He brings out his camera and immediately starts going through his pictures until he finds his favourite selfie of him and his chocobo.

The two spend the rest of the evening sat like comrades and friends as Prompto goes through his entire photography collection. The MT never wavers in its enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait to tell the other Maggi’s that I got to sit and talk with _the_ Prompto Argentum!” It sighs and wraps its hands around metal knees.

Prompto looks at the Magitek, his brow furrowed. “Maggi’s?” The MT nods.

“That’s what we call ourselves to make us a bit more personable. Maggi. One of us heard you say ‘Iggy’ before your group fled from the fight, so we adapted the name to suit us.”

Prompto laughs out loud, hoping he can see his friends again, even if its only to tell them that the MTs have stolen Ignis’ nickname. He claps the Magitek Trooper on the shoulder.

“You guys, are awesome.”


	13. No Stain, No Gain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw a post on reddit of someone levelling up from lv 15 to 120 in one go at Altissia.   
> I don't know what is more impressive, finishing the game at lv 15 or coping with the boys looking a right state for that length of time 😂

“I haven’t slept in weeks, I look like crap, stink like crap and feel like crap!” Gladio’s voice was too deep for him to emulate a petulant child, but he was doing a good impression of it anyway. He summons his sword and throws it off into the distance with a grunt of frustration. It travels half as far as normal, and he hangs his head a little, too tired to work up the energy to be more angry or to retrieve it.

“We’ll be refused service at shops and diners at this rate.” Ignis holds his glasses from his face, grimacing at all the dirt and grime on them. He regularly felt like he was walking in a thick fog now due to the weeks’ worth of filth on the lenses. The four of them were heading to the nearest campsite, the player had abandoned them in the middle of a large plain, not even having the decency to leave them close to a haven or a rest stop. 

“We _must_ have enough points now to warrant a night at Altissia.” Gladio bends down, reclaiming his sword as they crawl past. He wonders when the sword had gotten so heavy. 

“Soft beds baby….” Prompto says unintentionally, so tired, he’s closed his eyes while walking.

“Ahhh!” He slaps himself, leaving his hands on his face, pulling his cheeks down, in weariness. “I can’t turn it off, I’m going insane. I NEED to sleep!”

“Come on guys…”Noct is the only one of the four men who has a lightness to his step. He still walks with his head up and eyes open, scanning the environment.

His jacketless fatigues are so soiled and stained, they have literally turned a different colour. His hair is disgusting enough he can’t bring himself to touch it, even in game-play and there’s so much mud on his face he looks like he’s about to head into some covert operation to infiltrate a Niflheim base.

However, his eyes weren’t red, he had no obvious signs of tiredness and for the most part he didn’t feel too bad. Maybe a little sleepier than normal, but then his character was always sleepy, so he was used to it.

“It’s not that bad.”

Prompto, Ignis and Gladio stop, staring at him, the latter considering running him through with the sword.

“Noct, you sleep in the car!” Prompto speaks up first, yelling into the night, his voice higher pitched than usual with indignation. “ _We_ haven’t slept for weeks!”

“Oh right…” Noct looks a little sheepish that he has several naps a day while they are travelling around in the Regalia. “Sorry, I forgot about that.”

Ignis grabs at Noct with two hands, his hands grasping at the grubby shirt and shaking him.

“I’m not sure it’s even safe for me to drive anymore but I do as I am told! And what do I see in the rear-view mirror, while I’m struggling not to careen off the road and kill us all?” Ignis brings his face close to the king’s, hissing. “You! _Sleeping_!” 

He says the word as if it’s the worst sin in the world. For the three men who had hadn’t slept at all in weeks, it was. Noct brushes him off, getting some distance from Ignis and his pungent aroma.

“Hey, that’s not my fault OK! Don’t hate the player, or in this case the character, hate the game!” he huffs, keeping well away but trying to cheer them all. “Besides, Gladio is right. We’ve got loads of points, I’m sure we’ll be heading to Altissia soon. Then you can go back to complaining about normal stuff, like how expensive the hotel is and why we aren’t camping.”

They fall into a silence after that, trudging along smelling so bad even wildlife gives them a wide berth.

“Remember the days when we didn’t have to wait for 500,000 points to level up?” Prompto asks quietly.

“Yeah, or when the player was happy to camp, just for the novelty of Ignis cooking?” Gladio shakes his head, hoping the player really wasn’t trying to max out their levels “Man they were good times.”

“Er, guys?” Noct glances to where an amulet used to rest on the inside of his shirt. “Do you think the player remembers that they took the moogle charm off a while ago?” He grimaces slightly at the idea of spending more weeks like this with no bathing or resting.

“I’m gonna go with…no.” Prompto sighs, the rest of them anticipating that it will be several more days before they can actually hit the hay and get some shut eye.

“Well King, you better be damn invincible after all of this.” Gladio glares at him. “Seriously, if you die in some shitty pre-boss battle after all this levelling up? I’m going to kill you.” He stalks off, not worried about how little that made sense. 


	14. The Perfect Cup...Tart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I the only person that thinks Gladio sounds super cute when giving his cup noodle spiel? 😂

“Looks good, Specs.” Noct smiles down at the Memory Lane Pastries in front of him. He’d been so excited when they had unlocked the recipe at Galdin Quay, but the player had only picked it as a meal once.

It had been a long day, mostly farming, going in and out of dungeons, with a few higher-level hunts thrown in to mix things up. Ignis, feeling they all deserved a treat had agreed to Noct’s suggestion to make the sweet pastries.

Ignis hands the rest of the pastries out to Prompto and Gladio, taking one for himself. Noct dabs his finger on the icing sugar, licking it clean with a grin on his face before saying,

“There’s nothing else like ‘em.” Gladio stops, mid-way to taking a bite, his mouth open, tongue poised over his teeth.

Prompto snaps a piece of the scalloped edge off the tart, throwing it in his mouth and talking as he chews, keeping his gaze on the pastry.

“They’re easy to make whenever you’ve got a craving and they’re delicious to boot!”

Gladio lets out a sigh through his nose, sending a sugar dust storm into the air. He grits his teeth as Ignis holds his own pastry before him, aloft as though it were some precious treasure.

“I’ll never forget my first time…” He drawls in his characteristic dry tone.

Gladio drops his pastry and summons a greatsword before anyone realises what is happening. Prompto’s eyes goes wide and Ignis tries to summersault backwards as Gladio, using both hands, slams the tip of the sword into the ground. The earth rumbles and cracks open, knocking two of the three men to the ground. Noct warps at the last second, throwing a sword in the air and hanging by one arm from the top of a nearby lamppost.

He grins down at a scowling Gladio as Prompto and Ignis pull themselves up from where they fell. Noct, still with the pastry in one hand takes a large bite, crumbs spraying everywhere as he shouts,

“Ultimate flavour experience!”

Gladio grabs one of the plastic chairs outside the caravan and launches it up in the air towards him. The king drops down easily to the ground, avoiding the flying furniture, still laughing and partly choking on the flaky pastry.

“That wasn’t me! “Gladio’s voice sounded unnaturally high pitched as he yells. “I didn’t want to say those things!” He storms off inside the caravan with one last retort of “I don’t even like cup noodles!” before he slams the door.

*

It’s a few hours later when Prompto and Noct are full of pastries and Gladio, once again in good humour, claps Ignis on the back for a job well done.

“Thanks Iggy, they were great, as usual.”

Ignis smiles modestly at Gladio wondering if the moment had already passed. He quickly reminds himself that there will always be cause to mock the shield for his cringey product placement quest before saying,

“Perhaps we truly can’t improve upon perfection.”


	15. Lunafreya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Luna, thanks for saving Noct and everything...but you don't stand a chance against the 3 hotties he travels around with 😂

Noctis didn’t know why he was there, their agreement to meet in Altissia was in-game only. But that evening he had found himself walking off from his friends as they dined at Maagho, pacing through the streets of the floating city until his feet had stopped, unbidden, in front of a large lit up window.

The white dress on display had a full voluminous skirt with a tight bodice, folds of fabric creating depth and shape. Noctis didn’t know a lot about dresses, but he knew Luna would look beautiful in it.

He looks at it for only a moment, his interest captive to the portrait to the right of the dress. A long, slim neck, the palest of blonde hair, looking almost weightless and a smile, small, dignified, but full of warmth and sincerity.

Luna.

His Luna? It was hard to tell. The cutscenes of their youth were tender and poignant, but they gave no real indication to the relationship the two characters shared now. Did they want to marry? Or did they just respect and care for one another? He’s tempted to go closer, wanting to see her face up close when he hears a quiet, noble voice behind him.

“Your Majesty,”

An echo of a person is reflected in the glass. He turns slowly, inexplicably nervous and wondering if his hair is doing that weird thing where it flicks up at the front. Ignoring the temptation to check, his gaze meets her blue eyes.

He says nothing but stares at her dumbly, almond shaped eyes watching him inquisitively. Her hair is up in the same style as in the portrait, her petite face framed by a sweeping blonde fringe.

“It is an honour to finally meet you.” Her hands clasped in front of her, she bows her head.

“I didn’t think you would come, I…hoped, but…” Noctis trails off. He had yearned to meet her properly but given the number of hours already spent in-game, he wasn’t sure he would ever get the chance.

“I came as soon as I heard you were in Altissia. I have been waiting to meet you. The real you that is.” They both had cutscenes together or about each other but had never been able to talk when the game was turned off.

“I wanted to come and find you but…” he suddenly can’t speak, half formed sentences trailing off into nothing as he just stares at her.

_You’re beautiful…_ he thinks silently.

She smiles a small but open-mouthed gesture and lowers her eyes slightly.

“Thank you.” Or not as silently as he thought.

“Sorry, er…I wasn’t meant to say that out loud.” He blushes, running a hand through his hair as he turns to look at the ground.

“And you have become quite handsome King Noctis.” Another blush, this time from her. “You hold yourself differently to the cutscenes of our younger years together.”

There is something intimate in the way she refers to their time in Tenebrae. It makes him look directly at her. This woman whose character he should know inside out and yet, they have barely spoken, their adult characters still awaiting a scene together in-game.

She casts an eye over him. He would have been embarrassed if it were not for the almost clinical way she studies him.

“Tell me, King. What level are you?” He blinks, thrown off by the change of subject. He thinks for a moment before answering

“Erm, 49 I think, although we have a reasonable amount of experience waiting to be banked. I anticipate another level or two increase if the player has us stay here.”

She seems surprised. He wants to be closer to her, the distance between them seeming too big after all the time it has taken to finally meet her.

“That high already? I’m glad.” She looks to the side, relieved. It will stand him in good stead, although she already knew what fate would befall him. At least the rest of his journey may be a little easier on him given the experience.

Noctis takes advantage of her looking away and steps much closer to her.

“Yeah we, er…” Another tussle of his hair. “Spent a lot of time levelling up before we got here. The player really likes side-quests.” Dammit why was he so nervous? 

Luna looks back to him, if she is startled by their close proximity, she doesn’t say so. Instead, she smiles and give a quiet laugh.

“Your player is also much more romantic than I imagined you to be if your replies in the book are anything to go by.”

He chuckles, feeling a little awkward.

“I don’t get any say in those, that’s all on them.” He bites his lip, looking away again, thinking of the overly affectionate replies the player had chosen for each response in their book. “But I’m glad they chose those ones.” Their eyes lock, another tentative and shy smile between the two.

Luna leans back against the stone balustrade of the walkway, a playful curve to her mouth. She’s all at once more casual and approachable.

“Tell me, King, what is the world of Eos like? The parts I have seen have been limited, and my range of movement restrictive after gameplay.”

He’s sad to hear this, after having seen so many exciting things while on his adventures with his friends. He thinks for a while before answering.

“Eos is…stunning. Its huge, although I don’t have any points of reference. It certainly _feels_ huge when you’re sprinting around without a car for days on end. The people are friendly, the landscapes breath-taking and the food is damn tasty.” His eyebrow raised he nudges her shoulder as if making a point.

She laughs openly, trying to imagine what he would have seen on his journey here.

“It sounds wonderful.” She tilts her head towards him.

“What about you? What’s your gameplay like?” Noct does his best not to look away, although his gaze does slip down to her lips once or twice.

“Honestly? I don’t really have any, other than cutscenes.” Her head drops a little as she thinks about it, her game experience similar to her character’s life. “It’s been…lonely.”

She is quiet for a moment but collects herself, determined not to waste what precious time she has feeling melancholy.

“I do wish I had seen more of the world, that I could have joined you on your adventures.” Her eyes sparkle as she looks at him. All honesty and dreams written unabashed on her face. Noct frowns for a moment, there was something unsaid in her wording. He couldn’t put his finger on, but after another glance at that sweet, smiling face, tilted towards him, he moved on.

“We’re tied to this area right now. But if you want, I could show you Altissia? If you haven’t already seen it that is?” She hadn’t, not really. And she would be only too delighted to have Noctis as her guide.

“I mean, we’ve only been here for one day, but honestly, we’ve done every hunt going from Weskham and ran up, down and around this place so many times I think I know it off by heart now, even if the player doesn’t.” He grins

“I’d like that, Your Majesty.” He holds his hand out, palm facing up. She stares at it blankly for a second, before looking back to him, blinking. He huffs out a laugh and takes her hand, smiling as a soft warm glow peppers her cheeks.

“Call me Noct.” Another shy smile and the two set off, hand in hand to explore the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've finally reached the last of my written scenes for this. I have 5 more half drafted so hoping to get them done over the weekend.  
> Its a lot easier to write these then to concentrate on the long fic I'm supposed to doing 😂   
> Of course I'll need to spend some time playing the game - for research purposes...


	16. The Glamour of Gladio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional tags for chapter: non-consensual spanking.  
> I apologise…this is nothing more than self-indulgent nonsense 😂

Gladio’s rough voice does nothing to detract from his interesting attire.

“What the shit is this?”

Thick black leather encases most of Gladio’s body, leaving only his arms and shoulders bare. Strong thighs and legs wrapped in leather with small plated embellishments, designed to make the outfit more flexible and decorative. A silver buckle style belt hugs his waist, holding a collection of leather, metal and wood shields. The black material moulds to his torso, his chest and abs looking as though he has been dipped in wet paint.

“It’s like this game just upped its rating from T to A…” Prompto squeaks, shielding his eyes with his hands but peeking through his fingers.

Ignis looks at Gladio over his glasses. “Well, I certainly have no complaints…”

Gladio ignores him “How am I supposed to face NPC’s like this?! They won’t take me seriously!”

Noct cocks his head to one side studying Gladio.

“I’m not sure it’s all that different from your usual attire. You’re normally in leather and actually, you’re more covered now.”

Both Ignis and Gladio reply instantly “It’s definitely different.”

Noct shrugs, not fussed either way. So long as he wasn’t wearing cat ears and didn’t have a tail, he didn’t care.

Gladio moves his arms up and down, stretching through the outfit, holding his chest, as though he wanted to rearrange something but had no idea what.

“It feels… wrong.” He has a painful expression on his face. “ I feel…smutty! I’m the shield to the king, not his body slave!

Noct grimaces, taking a step back. Ignis blushes at the thought of Gladio as a body slave, but tries to put things in perspective for him.

“Well there is nothing you can do about it so might as well just enjoy it.” Always the voice of reason, he can’t help but add, “I know I will.”

Gladio rolls his eyes, trying to move the shield on his hip a little further around to the front of his body, hoping to hide the rather large, rounded bulge of his crotch. The accessory barely moves giving him only the pretence of modesty and dignity. 

“Seriously Iggy, can you tone it down just a little? I know I said I was OK with you having a crush on me but there are limits.”

Ignis, his face now in a sober expression, stands demurely with his hands together as he nods an apology at Gladio.

“Very well, I sincerely apologise, Gladiolus.”

“Thank you.” Gladio pivots slightly, feeling additional smaller shields on his hips. He bends, still trying to get more comfortable when he feels a quick sharp slap across his ass, strong enough to sting and for the feeling to reverberate through his thighs.

Gladio spins, a glare on his face as he stares down an innocent looking Ignis, still standing prim and proper as if he hadn’t just spanked the shield. Ignis pushes his glasses further up his face and smiles serenely.

“Was that over the limit?”

“Way, way over.”


	17. Plants & Potions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor chocobos! Stupid trees...

“If I see one more damn tree today…” Gladio steps out into the clearing, brushing the leafy branch away from him. “It’s like the player deliberately glides _into_ the greenery!” 

“Steering the chocobo does seem difficult for them.” Ignis voice can be heard before he is spotted, stepping gracefully from behind a nearby shrub “Perhaps they are a fan of foliage, as we seem to spend so much time in amongst it?” He brushes himself before grinning at Gladio, pulling a few leaves from his hair, the shield scowling in return.

Prompto keeps on the lookout for any additional creatures, mainly flying bug types. One never could be too careful around plentiful vegetation. “I don’t know but it’s annoying, especially when we get ambushed by spiracorn and all I can see are leaves!”

He hugs his chocobo, pulling some small twigs from its feathers and feeding it a gyashi green. He smiles watching his pet. It was always so well behaved, never complaining no matter how many times it was summoned and then sent back to the post. The bird cocks it head at Prom, who rolls his eyes before feeding it another green. 

“Don’t even get me started on the player trying to scale rocks with these poor things. Chocobos can’t jump over damn mountains, they are just birds after all.” The prince is facing his friends, so he doesn’t notice the chocobo beak heading for his arm. He feels a light pinch on his skin as his named feathered friend gives him a sharp nip.

“I’m not saying you aren’t awesome.” He pets the bird, ruffling its white feathers and scratching its neck, the medals jingling together as he does so. The bird replies with a contented high-pitched sound “I’m just saying, the player shouldn’t expect you to be able to scale mountains or cliffs.”

Noct makes his way towards the floating icon indicating where the car was parked, his chocobo wandering beside him for a while before trotting off randomly, exploring the area but staying within sight.

“It’s the same with us, we’re only human. But yesterday on what must be the tallest bridge in the whole of Eos, the player just stops the car mid journey, and sends me sprinting off the side of the bridge down to the wilderness below!” He stares at the ground as if he can see his own ‘in danger’ body lying there.

“This isn’t Assassins Creed, there’s no pile of hay or flowers for me to fall into! I’m a person, I get injured. I can’t be doing stuff like that!”

“It is pretty harsh that you lose HP, we always seem to follow you without any harm.” Prompto muses.

“Story of my life, Prom!”

“Sometimes I just blink and I’m down on the ground, wondering why you’re rolling around with half of your health gone.” Gladio smirks, clearly not bothered when he isn’t the one losing health, not that he would need to worry. Gladio’s stats were head and shoulders above the rest of the group. He had more than twice the health of poor Prompto.

“Speaking of half health…” Prompto shivers, a strange glowing aura surrounding him as he jerks a little for a second before righting himself. Ignis gives him another potion, a sad smile on his face.

Prompto had been poisoned in their last battle and the player had logged off in a hurry, leaving him with every lowering health. The group periodically have to keep cracking bottles of potion over him to keep his health up enough to function.

They daren’t risk using an antidote in case the player has deliberately left Prompto in that state. There seems no reason as to why they would do this, but still, players were odd and often did things that made no sense to the game.

Gladio shakes his head, clearly not happy that they have to keep stopping to heal Prompto.

“Maybe we should just leave him? We’ll eat through a ton of potions at this rate.” He raises an eyebrow in response to Prompto’s glare. “I could just drag you around until we revive you?”

“Drag me around?! I’m not a bag of camping equipment!”

“Shame, you’d be more useful right now if you were.” He shrugs turning his back on Prompto, taking the lead as they continue their way on foot to the car.

Prompto scowls, flipping him the bird, considering throwing a lumen flare at him.

_No Prom, be the bigger man…_

He thinks quietly before deciding he doesn’t want to be the bigger man. Throwing the grenade overhead straight for Gladio, he side-steps away from the blast area, whistling innocently.

There’s a gruff cry and a grunt as Gladio goes down, a chunk of his health missing.

Ignis rolls his eyes, “Really Prompto, was that necessary?”

“Yes, Iggy. It really was.” Prom hops over to help Gladio up/bask in the state of his health with a grin on his face. He pulls him by the arm, mock concern in his eyes.

“Here, Gladdy, let me help!” He calls a potion, by-passing the hi-potions in their inventory and smashes the bottle clean into Gladio’s face.

Another painful groan escapes from the shield before the potion starts to take effect. His health is only half replenished, he’ll have to allow time to do the rest of the healing for him.

“Oops!” Prompto’s face is slathered in sarcasm as he smiles at Gladio. “Sorry not sorry, big guy.”


	18. World of Ruin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not over it, never will be.   
> Poor guys have to live through it both in game and out...❤️

Noct stands at the edge of the campsite, staring off into nowhere, the air drying his eyes as he forgets to blink. A fire crackles behind him, sounding vaguely like the snap of crystals. It is so dark here, the perpetual night seeming too black compared to the brightness of the void Noctis has returned from.

The chocobros haven’t seen each other in some time. The player had been in gameplay for what felt like the longest while. And yet, Altissia, Shiva, the keep…it seems like only minutes ago.

Ignis approaches him cautiously, moving slower now but still with all the poise of a royal adviser.

“Noctis…”

The king says nothing, doesn’t even turn around. His whole self feels heavy, holding a weight that is far beyond him, and yet he is the only one that must carry it. He glances down at the ring in his hand.

Eventually he speaks into the night.

“This can’t be happening.” Noctis’ voice is deeper than it used to be, with a quietness developed over years of unuse.

Ignis puts a hand on his shoulder, long fingers gripping firmly, as if afraid the king will vanish without any notice. The adviser’s voice is laden with sorrow as he says, “I’m afraid it is.”

“Not after all this time…Not after everything.”

Gladio runs a hand through his long hair, his eyes damp as he glances over at Prompto who gives a sad smile in return. Neither of them knows what to say so they stay quiet.

“I thought chapter twelve and thirteen were bad, but this?” Noct crosses his arms, suddenly angry. “We’ve been together for over one hundred hours of gameplay, that’s months and months of in game time and what, the last ten hours it all just goes to shit?”

He yanks the ring from his finger and hurls it into the shadows, knowing it will return in place on his hand within seconds.

“Things have been wrong for some time now. Ever since chapter nine…” Prompto murmurs, looking at Ignis, who doesn’t return the gaze but tilts his head in the direction of his voice.

“We should have never got on that damn boat.” Gladio kicks at the dirt, knowing it was a wasted sentence. What’s done is done, and they can’t go back.

“Well I’ve had enough.” Noct finally turns to face his friends. “I’m not playing anymore. I don’t care what I have to do. I’m not just going along with the lines that are fed to me and the actions that I’m forced to do.” His voice breaks. “I’m not. I’M NOT DOING IT ANYMORE!” 

Ignis pulls him into a tight embrace. They know it doesn’t matter, if they could have stopped they would have done a long ago, before the falling out on the train, before Prompto was pushed, almost to his death, before Ignis lost his sight and Luna and Ravus died.

Noctis cries for a long time, his hands wrapped around his adviser.

“I can’t lose you guys, not again…”

Quiet sobs sound out over the plains. Gladio, Ignis and Prompto suddenly feel ashamed, lost in their character development. Despite their journey of side quests, camping, road tripping and Eos saving; the group had fallen apart. They had all gone their separate ways when Noct was in the crystal. They could only be grateful the player had spared them having to endure that time outside of gameplay.

Ignis, who previously prided himself on being articulate, abandoned his usual eloquence in favour of simple honesty.

“We missed you too, Noctis.” Because, what else is there to say when their reality seems so cruel.


	19. Eos’ Next Top Model

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From one extreme to the other...

Ignis stretches his legs out, enjoying the heat and smell from the cup of coffee in his hands. He looks out over the side of haven, crabs scuttling around at the shoreline. The sun hanging lazily over the sea as the imposing Angelgard island hides behind the chic resort.

“Where is everyone?” He mumbles quietly to himself, peace and quiet was such a rare commodity, he had learned to be suspicious of it.

Meanwhile, further up the beach and out of sight in the shelter of the Galdin Quay resort, the rest of the group were being all together much rowdier. The three men have been stood in front of the one of the photo contest boards for some time. Guests of the hotel and eatery kept giving them sidelong looks as Noct, Gladio and Prompto fall into one another, laughing loudly, occasionally wheezing as they fought to catch their breath.

“Oh, my gods, this one, this one has got to be the best!” Noctis slaps a hand to the screen, grinning from ear to ear. The monitor shows a photograph of Ignis, waist turned, looking over his shoulder at the camera, with just a hint of thrusting his pelvis forward evident in the picture.

“No, no! Smouldering Specs is hands down the winner!” Prompto collapses into him, giggling away like a school girl. Smouldering Specs as Prompto had named it was a headshot of Ignis, pulling his glasses slowly from his face, gazing intensely towards the camera in what could only be described as a ‘come, hither’ expression, an obvious pout to his lips.

“Prompto, take a photo so we can rub his face in it later.” Gladio nudges the shortest of the three, who immediately starts snapping with his own camera.

They make their way slowly back to camp, still laughing and stopping to model every now and again, pulling exaggerated poses, similar to that of fake-Ignis on the pictures. It isn’t long before Noct and Prompto add a stiff impression of the adviser’s voice to the game of charades.

Ignis sighs warily, hearing the group before seeing them and not at all surprised by their behaviour.

“So that’s where you were. I don’t know why you insist on changing the picture to me every time, Noct.”

“Well, I don’t, the player does.” Noct smirks, heading straight to Ignis. Standing over him Noct lifts his chin gently and kisses him in greeting. “But it certainly makes it more fun.”

“Yeah! We’ve seen a side of you we never knew existed!” Prompto grins.

“Or wanted to know…”

“Hey, we need pouting Ignis in our lives OK!” Prompto slaps Gladio lightly on the arm and the two immediately begin pouting at one another, each looking over/pushing up invisible glasses. Gladio holds his imaginary pair of glasses to the air, checking how clean the lenses were, all with an overstated pucker to his lips.

Ignis rubs his brow. “I keep telling you, that isn’t me! I don’t know who that Ignis is, but I would certainly remember pulling such ridiculous expressions!”

Noct immediately moves into the pose of his favourite picture and the other two go back to pouting at one another, pretending to come up with new recipes.

“Oh, for goodness sake. I’m going fishing!” Ignis storms off, as much as the delicate, light footed adviser can do.

Noct smirks, waiting until he can see Ignis approaching the fishing spot at the end of the pier before turning back to the other two.

“Be right back, guys.” They wave him off, Gladio already reaching for a pack of playing cards. Noct takes his shoes and socks off and jumps from the haven. He makes his way quietly to the small jetty, his toes sinking in the sand with each step. 

Ignis is sat with his legs dangling over the end of the wooden path. A line already cast; he hums patiently waiting for a bite. Noct smiles, his adviser and boyfriend looking quietly content doing something he never gets chance to during gameplay.

The line snags, Ignis waits for another tug to make sure the fish is suitably baited. A sharp pull on the line immediately has Ignis up and reaching to begin to reel it in. Noct sneaks up behind him, leaving a trail of sandy footprints behind as he creeps lightly. He’s right behind Ignis now, moving his mouth closer to Ignis’s ear as he suddenly shouts.

“Turn the rod toward the fish!”

Ignis cries out, jumps and drops the rod, which lands on his toe; leading to a second jump, and a final half hop before Ignis slips off the pier into the shallow water. Noct feels bad for less than a second, laughing easily, doubling over, his hands on his knees. His eyes closed, tears down his face, he hears Ignis splashing before feeling a cold wet hand around his ankle as he’s yanked into the sea.

He resurfaces, shaking his hair and wiping the water from his face. He grins at Ignis, not even caring that he’s soaked. Ignis laughs despite himself, pleased that at least Noct got a taste of his own medicine.

Noct casts an imaginary line, and pretends to reel Ignis in. It takes a few seconds and a couple of head gestures from Noct for the adviser to float towards him. Ignis looks bemused as he asks,

“What on Eos are you doing Noct?” He pulls Ignis the last two paces towards him, linking his fingers behind his neck.

“Catching the liege of the lake.” A cheeky wink, and Noct pulls his mouth to his as the sun sets over the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the cheese fest, that ending is too soppy, even for me 😂🙈


	20. Scraps of Crap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urgh, rl is getting in the way of writing, roll on the weekend! 😞  
> None of the items collected by the player are 'sparking joy' for Noct 😂

“Right, that’s it, I’m clearing some of this stuff out!” Noct’s voice can barely be heard as he digs through a pile of potions, trinkets, books, old weapons and random pieces of junk that seem to have no purpose.

“We just don’t need it all! Why does the player insist on keeping everything? Just sell it, damn it! We’ve got sixty of every potion and curative going, I don’t know how many bangles we have….and these!” He surfaces from the pile with a collection of treasure map scraps in his hand. “Why do we have these? They are going!”

“No! We need them!” Prompto grabs them, his voice almost whiney as he moves out of harm’s way of Noct to the boot of the car. He carefully smooths the old paper against the car and stacks them in order, folding them neatly.

“We’re never going to find them all!” Noct is exasperated, it was his armiger that was filled with the debris. Random old scraps of paper were the final straw for him. 

“You don’t know that! We spent a whole day last week driving around finding cars and repairing them.” Prompto pouts slightly. Side quests were his favourite part of the game and sometimes it seemed like all Noct wanted to do was to add another weapon to his collection of royal arms, regardless of where that led the rest of them.

“Kid’s got a point, Noct.” Gladio leans an arm heavily over Prompto, almost crushing him with his attempt to show affection. “Don’t forget all that time running back and forth to Hammerhead getting the upgrades from Cid. It’s like the player was waiting for the phone to ring the whole time, with how fast we’d set off back to the old guy.”

“Yeah, and look at the waste of time that turned out to be!” Noct shook a couple of amulets and chokers from his leg, stumbling as he moved away from the mound of treasures. “We already have way better weapons; we don’t even use those ones Crank-Face gave us!”

“The point is, this player has a habit of completing all these side quests so maybe we should hold onto them just in case?”

“Whatever.” Noct opens the door of the Regalia, sitting sideways in the passenger seat, his boot up on the door frame, arm draping over the side. “We’ll never find them all.”

“Well, I hope we do.” Prompto has a smile to his face as he looks at the scraps, wondering what they could mean, or where they would lead. They had eight scraps and a handful of maps so far. Scrap XII seemed quite in depth, but Prompto remembered the map from scrap X being a bit strange.

“Don’t you think it’s fun when we come across something other than an ingredient or random coin?” Prompto looks at Noct, his face lit up with excitement.

“Look, I don’t mind finding the stuff. I just don’t want to stand in that weird room, lined up like we’re waiting to be shot while the player spends ten years trying to find one item in amongst all of….” He points at the pile. “…that!”

“I can’t wait to find more! Oh! Maybe the scraps will lead us to a new weapon? Or a giant chocobo?” Prompto gazes off thinking about how awesome it would be to come across a giant feathered friend.

“So long as it’s not somewhere we’ve already been, four times previously…” Noct sighs.

“Or up a mountain.” Ignis considers. Mountains always came with the assumption that all rocks could be jumped on or clambered over. The group spends a lot of time watching Noct attempt to scale a rockface that is not within playable area. 

“Or at the top of a volcano…” Gladio adds, fed up of the lava burns from their last trip to Ravatogh.

“Yeah, basically, so long as its something interesting and within easy reach of a parking spot, then fine, I’m on board.” He shrugs at Prompto, it’s the most interested he’s going to get on the matter.


	21. Tutorial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After just one day of gameplay, the characters are still getting to know each other, and themselves...

Noctis studies the large hulk of the mullet-man who was stoking the fire. He has tattoos all over the arms that were massive with muscle; Noct was fairly certain he could kill a person with one punch. His torso, on display in an unbuttoned shirt, was stacked solidly with strength.

Gladio catches him looking so he decides to ask what’s on his mind.

“Gladio right?” Mullet-man nods and the prince continues “Just how big are you?”

The shield smirks, looking pleased with himself. “Pretty big.” He grins at the younger blond off to the side who simply rolls his eyes.

Noct twists his face. That was _not_ what he had meant.

“Ew, gross. Aren’t you too old to be making those kind of jokes? What are you, like thirty?”

Gladio’s face drops. “Thirty?!”

Noct shrugs, figuring Gladio must be somewhere near that age. His outrage indicates otherwise as he rudely points a thumb at Ignis.

“If anyone is thirty here, it’s this guy!” The adviser pushes his glasses up his face but says nothing.

Ignis had a maturity and grace to him that the others lacked, it made him seem timeless. He could have said he were fifty and if not for the softness of his face, they would have believed him.

Prompto leans forward, bringing his head into Ignis’ line of vision. He’s curious, but not unkind as he asks “So how old are you?”

“Twenty-two.” Ignis murmurs quietly

The other three men share a look, each suddenly busying themselves with dust on clothing, looking at the scenery and tending the fire.

“Anyway,” Gladio taps Noct with his foot, returning the original topic of conversation. “Why do you ask? Want to know if I can bench-press you.” He winks at the prince, not meaning to but feeling compelled. They weren’t that far into the game but he’d already done a ton of flirting and said a few questionable things. Noct raises an eyebrow, kicking Gladio, much harder, in return.

“No. Also…a world of no.” Gladio shrugs still grinning. “Just wondering why you couldn’t push the car yourself? You’re basically a car on legs anyway…”

“I probably could have done…” he stretches his arms behind his head then leans back on his elbows, elongating his already lengthy frame. “…just chose not to.” The nonchalant sound in his voice overshadowed by the obvious effort to show off his tough physique.

Noct casts a look over to Prompto, trying not to laugh. The blond in turn grins openly, already an easy-going friendship growing between the two.

“Hm, yeah sure, _big guy_.” Prompto plays with his camera, flicking through a few shots from their first day of gameplay. Noticing the difference in how Ignis holds himself compared to the others, he looks back to the adviser, not subtle at he surveys him. 

“Are you sure you aren’t the prince?” he asks after a while, another quick glance to Noct to show no offence meant.

Ignis however looks the most affronted by the suggestion. As if the idea of the prince being anyone other than Noct was simply heresy.

“Don’t be absurd. Noctis is of course, our prince. The rest of us are merely here to aid him on his path.” Prompto doesn’t reply but looks away feeling put in his place. Shifting uncomfortably, his fingers running along his arm, Noct stares at the ground as he repeats Ignis’s words quietly.

“ _Our._ Prince.”

Catching the tone Ignis inclines his head. “What? That is not in-correct. Particularly as we are outside the city walls and it appears your title means little to the NPCs in this area.”

“I know. It’s just sounds a little…” Noct trails off searching for the right word.

“Intimate.” Prompto finishes.

Ignis immediately blushes, standing and walking off to the end of the haven. Arms crossed, head bowed slightly into his chest, he half turns back to the group.

“It isn’t just me is it? I’m not the only…can’t be the only one who feels…” Ignis senses the stares but continues on regardless. “…bonded.”

Gladio scoffs, and Noctis, sat with his knees up, arms wrapped about them blushes fiercely and buries his face into his jacket. He knew he was the main character of the game but he suddenly wished he was a background NPC. Prompto glimpses at Noct before nodding slowly at Ignis.

“It’s not just you.”

Noctis voice is muffled as it escapes his jacket. “You guys are being so weird.”

“Don’t get me wrong Noctis, it’s not that I’m attracted to you, but I do feel like we have a connection. There is a rope, tying us together.”

“He’s right Noct…can I call you Noct?” Prompto doesn’t wait for an answer as he speaks to the huddled prince. “There’s something there... between us. Like I want to throw myself in front of a truck for you.”

Two tiny slithers of blue eyes can be seen through a fringe as Noct lifts his head ever so slightly. They all look to Gladio, sure he must be thinking something similar.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m not the same as you guys.” A flirtatious smile is sent Noct’s way. “I’m definitely attracted to you. I think it’s the hair…no wait...the arms? It definitely isn’t the attitude though.”

The shield laughs, all effortless charm and toying as Noct’s head disappears back into his arm and jacket fort.

“I’m just playing with you man.” A knock from his leg has Noct peeking back through his lashes at Gladio. “But yeah…I sort of feel like I’m breathing…for you? I get that my character needs to protect you, it’s my duty. But you’re more important than my own life. It’s a little heavy, honestly.”

With small nods of agreement from both Prompto and Ignis the group lapse into a silence. It’s not uncomfortable, each person feeling strangely at ease with the characters they had just met. It takes a while, the prince summoning courage he didn’t know he needed before he quietly adds

“Oh thank gods, I thought it was just me. I don’t even know you people and you mean everything to me.” They all share shy glances and low awkward laughs in the warm light of the campfire.

“Guys?” Noct lifts his head slightly, most of his features still hidden by his arms . “Let’s never mention this again, OK?”

A chorus of ascents sound from the haven.

“Agreed.”

“Sure thing, buddy.”

“Never happened.”


	22. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rules thrown out of the window for this one! 😂   
> Thanks to Shiary for your comment that inspired this 😊

King and Shield are already outside, in the plaza of the Citadel, eager grins on their faces as the Regalia pulls up, looking a little grubby, but in one piece. The roof is up, but both men can still hear the sounds of an argument from within the car. A back door opens and Gladio steps out, shaking his head as he exclaims.

“I’m telling you Noct, it isn’t!”

The other door opens a little, before a foot can be seen kicking it open all the way. Noct leans out, stretching, and stands lazily, a scowl on his face.

“And I’m telling you, it is!”

Prompto all but leaps from the front passenger seat, slamming the door behind him.

“And I’m telling both of you, nobody cares! Stop bickering!” He had more than reached the end of his tether with muscle-head and bean-boy complaining and fighting about all and sundry the whole drive back to Insomnia.

Meanwhile Regis and Clarus stand at the steps of the Citadel, yet to be noticed by the group.

“I thought you said they were friends, Regis?” Clarus murmurs.

“They were…before they left.” The two share a look, smiles gone from their faces as Noct and Gladio continue to quarrel.

“Look if it wasn’t quicker, then _why_ would the player keep doing it? Huh?!” Noct spreads his arms wide as if it were completely obvious and Gladio was just being dense. “You’re just jealous because you can’t do it.”

“Jealous? Of you! In that scrawny body?! Besides, the player probably does it because they are as stupid as you look!” Gladio storms up to Noct, both of them thinking they are right and too stubborn to admit otherwise. Finally, the driver door opens and Ignis exits, sighing and rubbing his face.

“Boys!” Regis shouts, startling all four men. Everyone looks guilty, Ignis and Prompto trying to decide if they need to bow to the king out of gameplay, the latter so confused he almost drops a curtsy. Noct settles for a small wave, his face twisting in embarrassment as he steps away from Gladio.

“Oh, hi Dad. Didn’t realise you were there.”

“What are you fighting about?” Clarus asks them both. Noct looks a little sheepish, it suddenly seems ridiculous, especially when said out loud to their parents.

“Warping.” Noct says at the same time Gladio mumbles “Sprinting.”

Regis narrows his eyes, looking from one to the other.

“Which is quicker…when travelling on foot.” Noct elaborates.

“I see.” Regis replies, even though he didn’t.

“Chocobo still gets my vote.” Prompto offers quietly, still not sure if he can treat Regis and Clarus as normal NPCs. Noct shakes his head at the same time as Gladio says,

“Nah, not for small distances, you’ve got to call them, find them, get on, then get off again.”

“Gladio’s right, it’s not worth it for short distances.”

“Finally, something you agree on. Can you please stop talking about it now?” Ignis resists the urge to clean his glasses, but both Noct and Gladio finally shrug their shoulders, agreeing to be quiet on the matter.

“I concur with Ignis,” Regis pulls Noct into a soft hug, ruffling his hair lightly as if he were still a child. “Enough squabbling! I want to hear all about your adventures!”

Noct smiles and hugs his dad in return, missing him even though they had so little time together in whatever format the characters were living through.

Gladio looks over, feeling Clarus’ eyes on him, face warm and welcoming.

“Hey…Dad.” He says shyly. “Feels kinda weird to call you that, first time I’m speaking to you…” Gladio is visibly nervous, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling awkwardly. Clarus shakes his hand, bringing a hand to clasp his shoulder. He has a smile on his face that makes Gladio feel embarrassed and proud at the same time. “You’re not what I expected. We don’t even look alike.”

Clarus laughs, a deep rumbling noise that is distinctly Gladio in sound. “Come, Son, we’ve got a lot to catch up on.” Ignis and Prompto hang back, smiling and waving to Gladio as Clarus begins to head up the steps to the Citadel.

“Prom, Iggy, you too.” Clarus stops, looking back over his shoulder, waiting for the others catch up. “We’re all family here.”

“He called me Prom…” Prompto’s eyes are wide as he hisses to Ignis in what he thinks is a whisper. Clarus chuckles, continuing en-route.

“Yes, I heard.” Ignis nudges Prompto up the stairs and follows with a bashful smile.

*

Regis still has an arm around Noct as they linger beside the car to talk.

“So tell me…Bahamut’s beard, what the hell is this?” He stops, pushing Noct to the side like an old newspaper as he sees the five stickers adorning the paintwork of his beloved Regalia. 

“Hey, that’s nothing to do with me, that’s all down to the player.” Noct holds his hands up. He was as unhappy as Regis with the decorations. There were four stickers, one depicting each of the friends, and a final yellow chocobo sticker, all neatly lined up in a row. “Prompto thinks they are cute.” He rolls his eyes, glad that at least the player had the decency to remove the Hammerhead rally style decals earlier in the day.

Regis blinks at him. “Well of course they are, look at how completely adorable you look as a mini pixelated person! It doesn’t mean I want it on my car! Can you not try to exercise some control over the player Noct? You are the prince after all.”

“That’s not how it works, Dad.” He gives a wry smile. “Besides, no one cares I’m the prince. The way the NPCs treat me is a joke.” It was apparently too much to hope for a bow when he arrived in a new part of Eos. No, instead it was ‘fetch me this’ or ‘retrieve this delivery’.

“And another thing…Camping! Sharing a tent with three other guys…. its tiny! The tent is tiny Dad!” He throws himself over the bonnet of the car dramatically. “And there’s never any cushions or blankets, just playing cards littering the floor!”

“Come Noct, it can’t be all that bad.” Regis grimaces, both at what Noct was saying and the fact he was sprawled over the Regalia, making the layer of dust and dirt seem even worse.

“I’m sorry…” Noct says in a tone that is anything but apologetic. “Let’s just compare, shall we?” He stands in front of the Citadel, waving his arms, gesturing at the colossal size of the four towers soaring above them.

“Giant skyscraper with magical crystal…Tiny tent with three guys; one of who is the size of a mountain.” Noct crosses his arms, tapping his foot in challenge to Regis. The king suddenly feels sorry for Ignis and wonders how the adviser put up with Noct through his teenage years.

“I’m sorry your sleeping arrangements are not ideal, Noct but there are more important things to worry about. The Empire is moving against us, I’m fairly certain I’m reaching a permanent stasis. I’m not sure what will happen to us in the next chapter…” Regis rubs a hand over the ring on his finger and sighs, looking up at the Citadel. Remembering the worst thing of all he turns back to his son, disbelief in his eyes.

“Added to that, Clarus has made a rather sneaky move in our five-month long game of chess and I’m stuck in check….me! The King!”

Noct looks at him, his expression is soft and at first Regis mistakes it for sympathy and comfort. Until Noct opens his mouth to utter.

“Yeah, but Dad… _a tent_.”


	23. The Stone-Studded Stunner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With his hair and casual suit, Dino strikes me as a poor man's Ignis! 😂

“Are you sure I can’t wait at the bar for you all? Drinks on me?”

“Ignis, don’t be rude.” Noct links his arm through Ignis’ practically pulling him through the restaurant at Galdin Quay. “As lead characters it’s important that we show our faces to all of the NPCs, you said that yourself.”

“Yes, but I had forgotten about him…” Ignis was loath to have his own words thrown back in his face, but it didn’t change the reservations he had about seeing the sassy and brash journalist-turned-jeweller.

Prompto appears, taking his other arm, no chance of escape as the hulking mass of Gladio brings up the rear. All three push Ignis past the bar and down the steps to the floating ferry pier at the end of the resort.

He sighs as they make their way down the stairs, half considering somersaulting over the top of Gladio to attempt a getaway. Concentrating on the view out to sea he makes a conscious effort to avoid greeting Dino as the others share a selection of waves, hellos and a high five from Prompto.

“Ho, ho, short stuff, you’re getting an arm on you!” Prompto grins and mock flexes, receiving a scoff from Gladio. Ignis is still staring at the waves when he gets a sharp elbow to his ribs from Noct.

“Iggy, at least say hello!” Noct whisper-shouts at him. There is a fierce battle of over who can stare most menacingly between king and adviser before Noct widens his eyelids further and Ignis eventually backs down.

He turns to face Dino, accidently making eye contact and catching the open amusement on the others face. Ignis delivers an altogether impertinent “ _Hello_.”

Dino sits back in his usual seat and rests his arms atop the bench, shooting Ignis a quick finger gun followed by a flirtatious smirk.

“Looking good Specs, or do you mind if I call you…Legs?” He winks, ignoring the sniggering from the rest of the group.

“Yes, yes I mind very much indeed.” Ignis exhales sharply, crossing his arms over his chest. Looking away, he stares at the top deck of the resort wishing he had stayed up there.

“Relax Sexy Scientia, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just passing on a compliment.”

“Well kindly, pass right on by it, thank you.” Noct and Prompto are openly giggling at this point, Gladio, chewing on his lip trying to keep his own face straight.

Ignis should have anticipated the ambush when Noct had suddenly suggested they book a room at Galdin. They hadn’t been during gameplay for some time and he knew how much Noct liked to keep an eye out for the cat. Besides, with its decent restaurant and various options of accommodation, it was Ignis’ favourite game location. At least it would be if it weren’t for a certain NPC.

Dino leans forward, letting his eyes linger as they travel over Ignis from head to foot and back again, pausing every now and then on some choice locations.

“I bet you don’t even need to cook the food; pretty sure you just look at it and its done…”

No pretence this time as Ignis rolls his eyes and sighs loudly for everyone’s benefit. “Really, must I be present for these interactions? I could just wait in the room for the rest of you.”

“Woah! Slow down there, I’ve got at least ten more of these before we retire for a nightcap…” Dino is on his feet and leering up at Ignis, making his way slowly to him.

“Shame about selling those jewels you found in game, I could have made something real pretty for you. Maybe a fancy glasses-chain, maybe a ring…” Dino bites his lip and runs a hand seductively along the frame of Ignis glasses.

Ignis glowers, pushing Dino back as he plucks his glasses from his face and throws them off into the ocean.

“That’s it. I’m done. I’ll be in the Regalia; we are not staying here!” A final glare at Noct and Ignis is off up the stairs, two at a time. He’s storming past the restaurant before the rest of the group allow themselves to start laughing. A couple of heads pop over the seating area above, wondering what was so funny for the group of four to make such noise.

“Ah dude, did you see his face?” Prompto collapses into Gladio, wiping his laughter tears on Gladio’s shirt.

“Can see a lot more of his face since he threw a hissy fit and tossed his specs!” Gladio clutches his stomach, tapping his foot on the pier trying to control his breathing.

Noctis slaps Dino on the shoulder, still grinning as he says, “I don’t even know what a ‘glasses-chain’ is, but Dino, you out did yourself.” He hands over 50gil and the two shake hands. “Never gets old, worth it every time!”


	24. Another One Bites the Miasma

There’s an unseasonably warm breeze that blows over the landscape as Noct raises his hand towards the magitek trooper, he stops for a beat, frozen in situ before the area darkens. The light returns as the surrounding MTs drop their weapons, Noct making a fist with his hand as he shouts,

“Again, really?” A few groans can be heard from Prompto and Gladio as the group come back together from their various places on the main road, just north east of the Alstor Slough parking spot.

“We’re never going to get anywhere if the game keeps crashing.” Prompto returns the circular saw plus back to the armiger, irritation on his usually cheerful face.

“Just be grateful it wasn’t while we were in Costlemark.” Gladio almost trips over a magitek that was taken down, but not quite dead. He turns back, holding his hand out and pulling the imperial to its feet giving a quick wave in response to the humbled ‘thanks’.

A couple of the other MTs wander off into the distance, taking advantage of their chance to explore their surroundings more. Noct stares in disbelief as they gather round to pet a nearby Garula. One of the chattier magitek clatters over, waving at Prompto.

“Hey Prom! Thanks for the advice on how to improve my aim it’s really helped! I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my hit rate!”

“As have I.” Ignis mumbles quietly to himself, walking past them, his health incrementally increasing with each passing second.

“Great! Glad to be of service!” Prom grins and gives a thumbs up. “Tell the others I said hi, OK? I better catch up with the fellas.” The rest of the chocobros are already heading back to the car. They had been en route to their next hunt before being ambushed by the Imperials.

Prom jogs over to the car, his smile cut short by the incredulous look on the other’s faces. Ignis looks tired, his max HP depleted slightly and Prom receives a sharp flick to the arm from Noct on his way to the front passenger seat of the Regalia.

“You know they are shooting at us, right? And you’re giving them tips?”

“Yeah, but only in game!” Prom furrows his brow as Ignis shakes his head at him, the two taking their usual seats in the car. Gladio sneezes, wishing he had different attire on than just his tank top and throws himself in the back seat.

“Not that it matters anyway with King Ring over here…” He jabs a thumb in Noct’s direction, not bothering to look at him, “…one-shotting everything before the rest of us even get to the scene of the battle.”

“It’s hardly my fault!” Noctis hops over the door, too lazy to open it and lands on the seat. Perching on the top of the headrest, he sends a poorly aimed kick in Gladio’s direction, nearly falling as he does so. “I’m not the one choosing to do that. But obviously the player knows that I am the most efficient character and I’m not going to argue.” He tries to sound casual but comes across as smug, which is standard for the prince. 

Gladio clicks his tongue, complaining and sounding generally hard done by. It isn’t long before he mentions his trial with Gilgamesh and that he should have the chance in battles to show his skills. There’s a collection of grunts and grumbles as everyone else, Ignis included, rolls their eyes.

“We’ve heard it all before, Grumpio.” Prom quips, leaning an arm over the side of the car, pretending to catch the warm air in his hand as Ignis steers the Regalia back onto the main road.

“I’m just saying, I’ve got a whole arsenal of techniques that I never get to use anymore thanks to Perfect-Kill Prince. I can’t wait until we come across something that is immune to the ring.” Gladio sneers, picturing Noct being thrown to the side, ideally requiring a phoenix down.

“I’ll probably just one-shot kill them with my prowess anyway.” Noct shrugs, nonchalant.

“One-shot kill them with your face more like.” Gladio squabbles, too tired to come up with a decent comeback.

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Noct scoffs, then quickly slides down from the top of the car into his seat as Ignis turns a corner a little quicker than he expected.

“Seriously Noct, it was bad enough when you used to warp strike everything! Could you be any more lazy in battle?”

“All I’m hearing is how much you wish you could warp strike, big guy!” Noct plays with the ring on his hand. He silently agrees with Gladio, fed up of seeing a D for finesse on their battle score card each time the player takes a quick but boring strategy. Still, he wasn’t going to openly admit that, so he fights the Lucis magic corner instead.

“Gladio is right, it is rather tedious Noct.” Ignis drawls, meeting his gaze in the rear-view mirror. Prompto nods and tilts his head from the front seat to face Noct.

“I’m lucky if I get one hit in and that’s only because I’ve got ranged weapons.”

“And you shoot first and ask questions later…” Gladio smirks good naturedly at the marksman, earning a ‘what can you do’ shoulder shrug and toothy grin in return.

“It’s just as well I’m trigger happy with this guy over here sending everything back into the void!”

“OK, fine!” Noct slinks down further in his seat in a mini strop. “Next time in battle, I’ll delay a little. Pull the old ’no button response’ thing. Should give you guys a few extra seconds to get a hit or two in. Better?”

There’s a few general mutterings of thanks, and a conciliatory '‘ppreciate it from Gladio'. Noct blinks slowly, suddenly realising he has no idea where they are heading.

“Ignis, where are we going?”

“Hm?” He sounds distracted, not paying attention. “You know, I don’t actually know, I just set it on ‘resume’…” He sighs and pulls the car over.

“We should probably head back to the last saved game point in case the player starts the game up again. What are we thinking, auto-save?”

“That would seem the most sensible of the two options. I dread to imagine how long ago the last manual save was.” Ignis re-engages the car, this time actually driving. “Back to Burbost it is then.”

Prompto puts the music player on, setting it to random as the group grow quiet watching the passing scenery. As they slowly approach the outpost he remembers seeing something in the window there that has been bugging him for the last forty hours of game time.

“Hey guys, what’s American Express…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a long time before I noticed the AMEX sticker in the game - cup noodles were fine, but that was a step too far for me...  
> Although I like how not every shop accepts it, just like real life 😂


	25. Umbra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same vein as World of Ruin. Chocobros experiencing the game and not knowing what is coming, no verse 2 ending, no actor AU and travel limited to immediate area. <\--- short one-shots shouldn't need explanations 🙈 😂
> 
> For a nice ending, read for the first part up until *  
> For a mean Square Enix-esque ending…. read the whole lot 😉

Noct slams through the door, running too fast to get around the corner quickly enough. He hits the wall, bounces off it and keeps running. Down over the red cushioned carpet, jumping over the suitcases at the side and avoiding the other patrons of the hotel.

He crashes through the glass and wood main door of the Altissia Hotel and out in the bright sunlight. Sunlight. From the sun. It had been a while since he had seen the sun. He blinks, eyes closing instantly against the harsh light. He tries to remember the last thing he was doing. There was darkness, the crystal, his father…

Gone. Ardyn, gone. Insomnia, ruined. His life…ended? But here he was very much alive. Alive, and feeling strangely invigorated. Like he had energy he hadn’t felt in years. As though time…

He finally opens his eyes, seeing Gladio, his shield, two scars on his face to go with his smile, and a mullet rather than the long locks Noct had last seen him with.

Prompto beamed, waving at him, his face young, pale and rosy cheeked, free of any facial hair or lines of worry. He takes two steps forward, half stumbling down the step.

_This can’t be…_

But it is, his shield, his best friend. There, alive, with him. And healthy from the looks of it.

A tall slim figure, with his back facing Noct slowly turns as the king approaches him. He’s not close enough to make out the colour of the eyes under the glasses. Noct doesn’t need to be, he would know those sharp green hues anywhere. But he is close enough to make out the unblemished skin and that the eyes are very much open and are looking right at him. _Seeing_ him.

“Ignis…” The adviser pulls him into an embrace, and it isn’t long before Prompto limpets on and Gladio bulldozes into them all, holding them tight with a fierce grip. Noct begins to cry, his tears slowly turning into laughter as the four of them realise they are all here, at the end of the game, safe and sound, and with each other again.

They begin laughing in earnest, not really sure why because nothing is funny, but everything is right. They jump around in a circle, almost doing a strange sort of dance, getting in the way of the stall holders and the early morning shoppers. They walk through the streets, an unbreakable line of four young men, with arms either linked, or wrapped around shoulders, their mood challenging anyone to try and separate them.

“We’re home.” Noctis says quietly. He looks between the three other men, thinking of everything they had been through and they had finally ended up in a place they could be safe. Gladio, Ignis and Prompto share a look and smiling, turn back to Noct and all three say,

“We walked tall.”

*

The following day after a difficult and emotional session of battling daemons, reliving the ending of the game and suffering several defeats against Omega, the boys are holed up in the Esterway Park break room of Citadel Station under the streets of Insomnia.

Prompto looks fed up, his goatee back on his chin. Ignis looks tired, not to mention blind again.

“Oh, for fucks sake….” Noctis curses, a groan spilling from him as he realises their surroundings.

Gladio pokes his head out the door, into the cold dark corridor. He looks up to the stairs leading out onto the city streets. The sound of daemons spawning just outside floods back into the small bunker.

With a grimace he closes the door, leaning his back against it. Noct looks ready to kill everyone and everything and like he has just spent 10 years in a void of space and time that sucked the life out of him.

They are trapped in the city, with no way to get out, no food in the room and no desire to spend the whole night pacing the streets killing creatures. Gladio pulls out a pack of cards from his pocket.

“Well boys, it’s going to be a long night.”

Noct sighs, but pulls a stool out to the middle of the room to act as a makeshift table for the cards. He hopes the player will return soon and take them back to Altissia, or at very least somewhere out of the city so they can get some food.

Little did they know that the player, having reached level 100, had completed all they had wanted to and had finally moved on to play a different game…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a little break from writing these (which probably means I’ll end up writing 5 chapters today!) It isn’t finished, not sure it’s a fic that will ever be finished! I’ll be posting whenever I have something worth posting. If anyone wants to see a scene about something in particular, just ask – no promises, but if I like it, I’ll consider it 😊 
> 
> Otherwise massive thanks to everyone who has shared this nonsensical, crazy journey with me so far and to those that have left kudos/comments, it means a lot! ❤️❤️❤️


	26. Supply Run - Month One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had one small scene carrying on from the previous chapter - which then turned into 3 much longer scenes 🤦  
> So I'll be breaking them up into 3 chapters, a chapter for each month these poor guys are stuck in Insomnia waiting for the chosen player to return and bring the dawn again!

A small tuft of blond hair surfaces over the massive mound of smouldering rock, concrete and steel rods that blocks one end of the road. Prompto can see the stairs to the Esterway Park break room; he need only to get there in one piece.

So far on his trek back from the Kingsglaive base camp, he had fought two separate groups of Salpinx before fleeing from another three different encounters. His ego was taking a bit of a hit, but he was too wiped to continue fighting high level daemons on his own.

All he had to do now was slip past the black flan that were flouncing their way around the street, while also avoiding the Nagarani and he was home clear.

_You got this Quicksilver!_

He waits for the flan brigade to past, bouncing on the balls of his feet, leg muscle sprung and while their backs are turned, makes a run for it. Over, across and back out of the waterless fountain and he’s almost there when a third flan makes a swipe at him, knocking him to the ground. Staying down, he doesn’t even bother to get up right away, completely done with the whole situation.

“OK, that is it! I’m too tired to fight and I’m too proud to keep running from battles!” Eventually, clambering to his feet, he turns back to the black flan and snarls at them, “Can you guys just _please_ give me a break!”

Prompto stands close to crying out of sheer frustration of still being stuck in Insomnia after four weeks, large blue eyes filling, threatening to spill over the sweet freckled face. The daemons stop their onslaught, hesitating for a moment. Prompto blinks, keeping his eyes closed, lids scrunched together.

He doesn’t want to be out on the street, in the infinite night, where colours have ceased to exist and the closest thing they have to the sun is his hair colour. However, Prompto equally can’t bear the thought of returning to that small room, four grown men living in a room not even big enough to house the Regalia…

Noct didn’t want to stay at the base camp with relative strangers, and the others understood that; they had all become a little cliquey throughout the game and besides, no one wanted a mad dash across a fallen Insomnia while the game reloaded. But was the player even coming back?

_Please don’t say we’ll be stuck here forever…_

A tear of exasperation spills over, and the daemons retreat a few more glides, their growling quietened. He looks at them in shock as they slowly give ground. Looking around, Prompto checks there are no enemies behind him and takes a few wary steps backwards of his own, towards the safety of the stairs and the break room beyond.

“Er… thank you?” The flan closest to him seems less menacing, the scowl on its face now bordering on sad.

Its friend inches forward gently, using the strange stretchy quality to its body to reach out and roll a small stone towards Prompto. The monster nudges it, almost like a chocobo playing with a green. Prompto stares at the pebble, a fleeting thought that it could be a grenade indicating how much he was losing his mind.

The daemon lowered its head again towards the stone, its small arms waving softly towards it. Was he supposed to do something with it? Was it a peace offering of some sort? Prompto has no idea but bends down, gun still in hand, eyes never leaving the flan as he picks up the stone.

The monsters look almost happy at that - well, as happy as scowling jelly creatures can look - and the flan wave their arms around.

“I’ll um… keep this then?” Prompto asks unsurely. There is some more arm waving and general digestion type noises from the flan. He reads that as a yes and holds up the stone with a forced smile on his face.

“Right… thanks.”

A few more slow steps back. Once Prompto is a suitable distance from them, he pivots sharply and legs it, his feet pounding the pavement as he sprints towards the subway stairs. Leaping down them, he almost slides past the break room, banging on the door. 

Prompto barges through the half-open door, swinging with the opening motion, and slams it closed again behind him. The others barely even glance up, a frantic entrance no longer a concern as it meant the person has actually returned unharmed.

Head against the door, Prompto takes a few sharp, shallow breaths; Ignis already working the bag of suppliers from his back.

“I swear… those daemons get… more odd as time goes on.” A final deep breath in and Prompto’s heart settles into a steadier rhythm. “We have got to get out of this place.”

Ignis pulls the strap of the bag, giving Prompto a soft squeeze of his shoulder in thanks for the doing the supply run. Ignis is already making for the small table in the corner when Prompto hands him the small pebble. Turning it over in his hand, his fingers working out what it is. Ignis turns his head towards Prompto, a questioning look on his face.

The blond shakes his head, patting Ignis on the arm in return. “Don’t ask.”

“Did you get everything?” Prompto frowns as Noct is already trying to open the bag, Ignis still holding it. It was the same food items every time - cans of beans, sausages, fish and vegetables - but at least fresh supplies gave them something to look forward to. Noct always liked to unpack the bag (on the off chance Prompto had found some chocolate on his travels).

Next, Ignis would add the cans, tins and jars to the food locker and calculate how long the stock would last them. No one was ever sure how Ignis managed to line the cans up perfectly, labels front facing and everything in meticulous order. They never questioned, but accepted it. He was Ignis, after all. 

“Yes, and what a cheek, I had to pay for it again!” Prompto kicks his boots off and under his bunk bed before turning back to Noct. “They would never ask you to pay, Noct. You should have gone instead.”

“I can’t go!” Noct says it as if it’s the most obvious thing in Eos, his interest in the supplies waning once he realises there is no chocolate. Ignis gives a contented sign as his fingers wrap around the familiar slim can of Ebony.

Prompto glares at Noct, “Why not?!” Prompto looks close to throttling him.

“Well, because…” Noct looks around at the others. “… I’m the king.”

Three groans break out and Prompto jabs a finger at him. “Next time, you’re going.”

“Prom is right, you really should take your turn.” Gladio’s voice sounds from the top bunk of his adapted bed near the lockers (about four days in, he had lost his patience and bent the metal footboard out of shape so he could sleep with his feet hanging over the edge rather than potentially breaking his toes during the night).

“Fine! I’ll go!” Noct shouts as if he had decided himself when it was clear to everyone else, he was being strong-armed. Prompto smiles and risks ruffling Noct’s hair out of badness.

“Good, because you can’t keep sending me with the excuse that I’m the cutest and therefore the daemons won’t get me. That’s not how the game works.” He glances at the stone that Ignis is once again turning over in his hand, making a note not to mention what happened in case the creatures really were going easy on him because he was sweet of face.

“But you’re so little and cute! Like a child trapped in a slightly older child’s body.” Gladio grins at him, throwing a sock in his direction. Prompto dodges it, and it lands on a scowling Noct instead.

“I’m not the most adorable one here because I’m the shortest - same as you’re not the best looking one simply because you’ve got the most muscle…” Gladio raises an eyebrow while Ignis turns his head in contemplation, Noct giving his shield a once over.

Prompto ignores them and continues on, “…I’m the most adorable one here because I’m utterly loveable.”

No one argues with that. They never did when Prom returns from provision detail because honestly, he really did get the least amount of trouble out on the street.

Gladio only had to think about going outside, and the spawn rate would go off the chart. Noct barely went out, which made little sense - the king could probably warp his way there if he tried hard enough.

Meanwhile, Ignis invariably ended up getting involved with some glaive issue when he made it to camp. Talcott asking how to cook or Cor needing advice on strategising the next attack on an imperial base. Not to mention that it seemed harsh, sending the only person who couldn’t see out into the final battleground of the game.

Which left Prompto to do the coeurl’s share of the shopping trips. On the plus side the NPCs liked him and he usually got an extra something thrown in for free if the photographer glaive was around. She didn’t have a name, only known as ‘glaive’ but in his head Prompto called her Ignette. He wasn’t sure if it was the glasses, but she definitely had an Ignis vibe to her.

“Well, regardless of your superior charm and appeal Prompto, thank you for going. You can have half of Noct’s rations tonight as your reward.”

“Why half of mine?!” The thirty-year-old king sounds more reminiscent of the younger, more childish prince he once was. Gladio throws a second sock, this time deliberately at Noct and it whacks him satisfying in the mouth.

“Because the two of you barely make up one whole person. And Iggy and I are the oldest, so there.”

“So there?! Good one, Gladio. I thought readers are supposed to be intellectual, unless of course those were just picture books you were looking at for the entire game!”

Prompto hops up onto the top bunk of the first set of beds, dangling his legs over the edge and getting comfortable for the inevitable next hour of sad and pitiable bickering between the two of them. He catches the pebble that Ignis throws his way and he can’t help but grin, suddenly feeling much more cheerful than moments before when felt overwhelmed with frustration.

The room is cramped, smells awful, and he is sick of being in it. But he would take it over the crushing loneliness of the ten years Noct had been in the crystal. They may be fatigued and in a hopeless situation but at least they were together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I wouldn't say this was an out and out sad chapter, I promise, the first month was the toughest for them, so no misery over the next two chapters 😂


	27. P(l)ayback - Month Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been replaying FFVIII for the first time in about 17 years so for anyone wondering, Noct is listening to The Oath from the OST and channelling his inner Squall while giving his speech 🙂

Noct scrolls through the portable MP3 player looking for the right track to inspire the four-man army. The others think the whole briefing (particularly the fact that it requires a soundtrack), to be overkill for what could be a simple conversation, but the king seems to be enjoying himself so they leave him to it.

Bypassing his usual favourite tracks, Noct eventually comes across the perfect score for his address.

_Yes! This is the one…_

Pressing playing, he takes a second to straighten his Royal Raiment, sweeping the usual eye-stabbing fringe out of his face. Standing in the doorway and turning back to face his troops, the king suddenly barks out, “Alright, listen up!”

Gladio, Prompto and Ignis are side by side, lined up in front of the bunk beds in the break room. They immediately stand to attention at the brashness in Noct’s voice, which is much too loud for the small space. He makes no effort to dull it down, continuing on in the same volume because it suits his mood. 

“It’s been six weeks since we’ve been abandoned here, taken from the comfort of Altissia and left to fade away in this shell of a city. So, when the sad, sorry excuse for a player _does_ return, we will treat them with contempt and loathing. And how do we do that?”

He looks to each man before smirking as he finishes with, “by fucking with their gameplay experience.”

Prompto grins back, delighted for any excuse to be a bit dramatic, Gladio raises an eyebrow and Noct doesn’t need to see through Ignis darkened glasses to know that he’s rolling his eyes.

“Argentum! Each time we are running past enemies (especially if the player is trying to avoid the encounter) fire off a first shot to initiate battle. Even if we’re barely in that red circle, shoot fast and hard and ask questions later. I don’t care if it’s an Anak or Behemoth, shoot it.”

“Sir, yes Sir!” He gives a quick salute, the epitome of military discipline, then spoils it by winking and shooting finger pistols at Noct. “Trigger-happy Harry coming up!”

“Amicitia! I want you to slow things down in battle. Take so long to swing that greatsword that the enemy has a chance to blindside you.” Gladio twists his face at the idea of trying to dumb down his combat skills. He’s not convinced they will be able to exercise that much control during gameplay, anyway.

“Hm… I’ll try but—”

“Yeah, yeah, we know. You’re amazing, so it’ll be hard for you not to excel, but if anyone can be the best at failing, Gladio, it’ll be you.” Gladio starts to smile, stops and fires off a glare. He’s not sure if that is a compliment or not, but as its Noct, it’s safer to assume he’s being a dick. Noct sees the glint in his eye and knows he will regret the comment later, but for now he smirks and moves on.

“Scientia, once we’re back on the mainland—”

“He means past Lucis.” The marksman side whispers to Ignis, earning a couple of scowls and a headshake from the adviser as he mutters,

“Quite. Thank you, Prompto.”

“—You’ll have your sight back.” Noct continues, his eyes still on Prompto, annoyed at the interruption. “I want you to try and initiate link-strike challenges more often than usual, if you can.” A small nod of assent from Ignis and Noct glances at the other two men.

“The rest of you be ready, as soon as the countdown bar appears, spread out. I don’t care where you go, just make sure it’s not near me. Iggy it will be harder for us as we’ll be standing next to each other, but if you can get just two steps left of where you should be, any attempt at a link-strike should fail.”

Noct raises a fist towards the ceiling. “No extra AP for you, loser.” Bringing his fist to his chest, he turns back to his guard, pacing as much as the small room will allow. Gladio briefly wonders if the king has spent too long cooped up indoors.

“As for me, when using elemancy, I will delay the release of the spell, giving the opponent time to move out of the targeted area. I will also try to increase risk of misfire on relevant spells, when given the chance. And of course, using the ring is extremely draining, so perhaps I can draw out the recovery process…”

He thinks about it for a little while, nodding to himself and smiling, enjoying the mental image of his revenge against the player. Straightening his shoulders, he faces the group again, feet apart and hands clasped behind his back. 

“And finally, the team offensive. When engaging in battle I need the three of you to step off a ledge or bridge, something of the sort, by mistake, dropping you into a different screen and therefore not available for battle. This is location dependant, so not ideal and we may not get the chance for a while but when the opportunity arises, take it!”

Prompto raises a hand, forgetting he’s Crownsguard and not a child at school. “Oh, like that time in Costlemark, in the labyrinth when we kept falling off the moving blocks? By the time we got to the fight, it was all over.”

“Yes, exactly, Prom! I want to see that happening every time it can.” The two share a grin and Noct remembers one last thing.

“Oh, and outside of battles, I need you all to get in my way. I’ve just passed through a doorway? Linger in it so I can’t get out. Walking into a diner? Gather around me, so I’ve got nowhere to go. That really annoys the player, there’s usually some button pressing when that happens, so keep it up guys.”

A few noises of agreement ring out. That last part will be easy enough to pull off. The rest, however, will take a lot of effort and concentration from the characters. Noct knows this, but if they _can_ do it, it will be worth it.

“Any questions?”

Gladio and Prompto glance at each other, both happy to go along with the plan, simply out of boredom if nothing else. Ignis waits and sensing no other objections, voices his own concern.

“Noct, are you not worried that by making the game irritating for the player that they may not return?” The king shakes his head kindly in sympathy – or condescension, it was often hard to tell with Noct – of how short sighted his friend is.

“Iggy, my dear Iggy.” He steps forward, holding his arms out and gesturing to the others even though Ignis can’t see him. “Look at us, Specs. We’re an RPG boy band. With Gladio’s arms, Prompto’s charm, your voice and my face?”

Patting his Ignis on the arm, he sounds utterly satisfied with himself and the estimation of both his friends and the player. “The player will keep coming back, I promise.”

Ignis shrugs, begrudgingly admitting that Noct does for once have a point and he’s probably right.

“And when they do, we’ll let them know what happens when they leave us to rot…” Noct’s voice drops low and the others turn to look at him, Ignis pulling his arm away from the tightening grip. The king catches himself, asking innocently, “Sorry, did that sound too dark?”

Prompto grimaces, his hands trying to rub the chill from his arms. “It’s a little…”

“Omen trailer vibe.” Gladio supplies. Noct nods once.

“Good, that’s what I was going for.” A final quick pat to Ignis’ arm and he holds up his phone, grinning as he asks, “Now, who wants to play some King’s Knight?”


	28. Pastimes - Month Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've really come around to the idea of these guys in Insomnia now. I think they are loving life! Well, relatively so 😂  
> This chapter is three different scenes featuring various 'hobbies' the guys have developed to past the time...

The misfit collection of daemons and Crownsguard take up their positions at the entrance of the Oto-Central tunnel, stretching legs, arms and goo-like limbs. Noct stands ahead of them, on a small traffic island dividing the road. Holding a makeshift flag, fashioned from an old shirt and a piece of steelwork, he waits for everyone to get into their starting stances.

“So, remember guys, it’s from the tunnel to that—” Noct twists, pointing with the flag to a lamppost some distance behind him, “—district map sign post. One trip only, 150 metres, whoever touches the map first wins. Are we all clear?”

There’s a small chorus of shouts mixed with daemonic grunting and gurgling. Everyone knew the track by the now, familiar with the starting and end points. It was one of the only stretches of road clear enough of debris that would accommodate a race between three humans, two salpinx, a black flan and an eternal trooper.

Initially they had started with more participants when these races began a few weeks previous, however a few parties were soon scheduled their own race due to their bulk or shape giving them an unfair advantage. Gladio loved a challenge but there was no way any of them could compete with a six-legged ariadne or nagarani whose body was one-fifth the length of the track.

Noctis had also been relegated/promoted (depending on who you asked) to the position of officiant for all races. After a good ten minutes of arguing between Gladio and himself after the first race about whether warping was cheating or not, Ignis had stepped in and suggested that Noct, as King, should preside over the races, rather than run them so he can have the deciding vote should any issues arise.

So that was how he found himself, on his throne of an island, wondering how the heck the team had gone from fighting these bastards across the city, to running races with them and tentatively calling them friends.

“On your marks, get set… Wait for it…” he pauses for dramatic effect.

“Noct!” Gladio huffs out, breaking from his stance slightly in irritation.

“GO!” Noct yells at the last second, Gladio cursing under his breath. The competitors begin their mad dash for the finish post, Gladio and Prompto initially in the lead, quickly joined by a black flan. 

Noct grins as they fly past him, glad that they had sent Prompto out on the supply runs as it was down to him that these races were even taking place.

It had taken a few weeks after that initial stone-bequeathing trip, of Prompto heading out to see the daemons to determine that neither party actually wanted to fight. The creatures were attacking because they thought that the others would kill them and vice versa. Mainly the daemons just liked to explore the city, appreciating the signs of life that used to be there and the odd things that the human characters had left behind.

They had started a wary friendship at first, Ignis being the next in the group to make contact. One thing had led to another and now here they were, hosting tri-weekly races with daemons.

Noct makes his way slowly to the end of the race, knowing that Gladio will win. He always does. That man has endless stamina, it was like he was part chocobo that had just been fed some mimett greens.

_Although…_

Noct warps up to the second floor of a nearby building. Carelessly dangling from one arm, he can see that Ignis is making good progress. Iggy had been an occasional surprise winner previously, his ability to leap onto and from a stone (rather than into, or over it) and somersault through the air easily earning him a couple of wins.

The flan is close behind, in fact it needs to be careful otherwise…

“Oh, man down.” Noct mutters to himself as the trooper gets too close to the flan and ends up being sucked into its gel-like flesh.

Scanning the crossroads approaching the finish line, he spots Prompto, gaining on Ignis. The blond was fast, no doubt about it but he couldn’t keep up with the long legs and power start that Gladio always seemed to achieve, nor the insanely impressive way a blind Iggy could navigate the racetrack.

Judging by the last burst of speed from him, he would come second to Gladio. Noct drops down from the building, jogging over to the map as Gladio slams a hand onto it first, the metal work groaning from the force.

He turns to face Prompto grinning, “I thought you were going to catch me there for a second pip-squeak.”

Prompto stands, doubled over, trying to get his breath back. He holds out a hand, a finger raised asking Gladio to give him a minute. The move is immediately followed by a wave of his hand as he collapses onto the street, gasping and struggling to breath. Gladio shakes his head, his own breathing already beginning to slow and congratulates Ignis and the flan on a good race, stopping to pull the trooper out from the side of the flan. Noct looks around, not everyone was there.

“Hey aren’t we missing…” Warping back up to his usual vantage point, Noct spots the salpinx. They hadn’t even made it half way before getting distracted and fighting with one another, small blurs of blue and purple flesh merging as one as they tumble over and around each other.

“Nevermind.” A flash of blue and he’s back to Prompto’s side, pulling his friend up and patting him on the back. Turning to Gladio he flicks an oracle coin in his direction, the coveted price for winning the race.

“Well big guy, you managed to not suck, again.”

“I think you mean, _congratulations_.” Noct shrugs, he was pretty sure that was what he had said.

The eclectic band of characters loiter for a little longer, chatting about racing and gameplay experiences (the trooper taking the time to ask Ignis how he manages to avoid falling into the flan when he can’t see) before waving bye to one another as Noct and his retinue head back to the break room.

****

Gladio returns from the break room to join Noct and Ignis on the street at the dry fountain, dropping himself down on the ledge and sighing.

“Thought you were going to get Prompto?” Noct asks, look back to the direction of the subway expecting to see the blond rushing over. They all spent a lot more time outdoors now, the daemons were much more friendly and there hadn’t been a single battle in several weeks, but the others always felt more relaxed with Prompto in tow.

“He’s busy.”

“Busy? Doing what?! There’s nothing to do here!” Noct scoffs and Gladio shoots him a look.

“Boot-at-the-door kind of busy.” 

Noct flushes, mumbling, “Oh right…”

No one speaks, Gladio looking decidedly away from the break room. Noct desperately trying to think of anything to fill the silence before images of what Prompto was doing could be branded into his thoughts.

None of them are sure how it began really. One of them must have been the first, but no one could recall who it was. It had been inevitable of course, after so long of being in cramped quarters and having no release...

Periodically, they would be down a member, returning to the break room to see the obligatory item or note on the locked door to indicate that the occupant was not to be disturbed. No questions were asked and no comments were made, the relevant party left alone to their activities, the team regrouping only when it was safe to do so. 

Prompto’s boot at the door was a clear sign that he was otherwise engaged. He had chosen the boot as a barely veiled suggestion that he would kick anyone’s ass if they bothered him. Initially he had left his camera hanging on the door knob before realising that giving the guys a chance to take an embarrassing photo of him rutting into his hand was not a good idea.

Ignis’ calling card was his recipe book, left open to a notes page, with four words inked in Ignis’ cursive handwriting.

_Cooking up a storm…_

Upon first discovery, Noct and Prompto had been so excited by the prospect of a new meal, both had rushed to get into the break room. Gladio, barely grabbing them in time, had calmly explained that he was eating for one and redirected them all back up the stairs, ignoring the embarrassed mumblings and furious bushes.

Noct had taken a leaf out of Ignis book – quite literally. He’d ripped a page out of the cooking book (that just happened to have a recipe for vegetable stew on the other side, so it could never be used again) and scribbled his own message. Prompto and Ignis had been the first to find the note on the door, Gladio still out for a morning run.

“ _The king is in attendance_.” Prompto read, barely keeping the scorn out of his voice.

“That is one royal engagement I am staying far away from…” Ignis had muttered while the two made a hasty retreat. 

Gladio proved more old school, leaving an actual item of clothing. Not a sock as one might expect but his leather pants.

“Ew, why does he use his trousers?” Prompto, leading the group had spotted them first, stopping before he had even made it to the bottom stair. Turning abruptly, he had headed back up to the street.

“He’s Gladio, why does he do anything that he does?” Ignis sighed, pausing as Prompto brushed past him. Hearing the sound of Noct’s feet twisting on the stairs, he followed suit and wondered if they should head to glaive camp for something to do.

“To show off,” Noct finished, “because a sock isn’t big enough for him.”

“Yes, it appears he needs a full trouser leg. Which would be anatomically impossible, apparently for anyone other than him.” Ignis regretted the words as soon as he uttered them and all three had shuddered at the thought; no further comment was made.

Now, as Noct, Ignis and Gladio kill time waiting for Prompto to be done, Noct can’t help himself as he starts talking before his brain kicks in.

“Hey, do you guys ever think—”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Gladio cuts him off sharp.

“I agree,” Ignis follows, “whatever misconceived notion of conversation you have in mind Noctis, I beg of you do not continue it.”

Noct looks away, pouting. It’s not like he was going to say anything bad. In fact, he was going to say quite the opposite. “OK, sorry.”

He kicks his boots at the ground, gravel and dust lifting into the air. Glancing at the other two he can’t help himself as he tries again. “It’s just, we all trust each other—”

“I think Prompto’s done now.” Ignis stands, taking his well-known route out of the fountain.

“He’s definitely done.” Gladio follows him, scowling at Noct. “And if not, lover boy here can finish him off.” Gladio gives a quick touch to Ignis elbow, out of habit rather than need and the two set off back to the break room.

“Hey, that’s not what I meant!” Noct calls after them, getting no reply. “I wasn’t even going to suggest that!”

Still nothing.

“You guys twist everything I say!” He shouts to no-one, the other two well out of earshot by now.

****

“Anyone up for a game of bucket-ball?” Gladio tosses a small pebble in the air, hopping down from the top of his bunk. “Three days off cleaning duty for the winner.”

Noct looks up at that, rising to the bait. “I’ll take that bet.”

Gladio smirks at how easy it was to challenge Noct to just about anything. Particularly if it gave the king the chance to get off the cleaning rota.

“Of course you will Princess, because you just love to lose.” He hears Noct scoff, Gladio still grinning as he checks the bucket is in place.

There were a couple of white buckets in the corner of the room when they first arrived. Two had now been acquisition for regular bucket-ball tournaments. The aim of the game couldn’t be any more straight forward.

Throw a stone, get it in the bucket.

The game had started off easy, the bucket on a bed, or the top bunk. As the weeks rolled by, it had moved its way closer and closer to the ceiling. Now it was resting precariously on one of the suspended strip lights. With this new position, came the added challenge of getting a stone high enough to land in the bucket, but not so high that it would bounce off the ceiling and miss the target entirely.

“You both must love to lose, because you know I’m going to win.” There’s no arrogance to Prompto’s words, he’s merely stating a fact. His hand and eye coordination second to none, it was fair to say that Prompto was a crack shot at the game. 

“Count me in. Someone needs to provide you with a challenge Prompto.” Ignis smiles good naturedly, already moving the chair from the small desk, and placing it against the door. Noct grabs the score board from inside one of the lockers.

They were limited to fifteen goes each and for each successful attempt, the person would get one point. There were three bonus points on offer for any stones that made it without hitting either the top of the bucket or grazing the ceiling. It sounded easy. But from the playing position of lying flat on the floor, at the other end of the room, it was anything but.

Gladio placed a book on the floor, a marker for Ignis and taps the other on the arm to let him know he could go first.

There were small marks set up on the ground to ensure that Ignis was lined up in the same spot each time. At first the others felt they had an obvious unfair advantage over Ignis, and so the pointers were introduced for his benefit. Unfortunately, Ignis had since proved to be the second-best contender in bucket-ball, making them all regret that decision.

His attention to detail and ability to stay calm if he missed a couple of shots served him well. Added to that, being positioned in exactly the same place each time allowed him to perfect a smooth throwing motion that saw the stones regularly sailing through the air and arc nicely into the bucket.

An easy afternoon follows as the points for each of them keep climbing. Gladio and Noct at some point forget that they aren’t the only people playing, focussing their taunts and trash-talk on one another exclusively. They both usually scored well, but they were let down by a shared hot-headedness and desire to beat just each other. 

The game ended exactly as Prompto had predicted. He had won, Ignis coming a respectable second. It was unclear exactly who out of Gladio or Noct had won their own private challenge as they had stopped counting points when they realised, they weren’t going to beat Prompto.

“I clearly scored more points than you, you just can’t see it because you’re sooooo far behind that your vision is worse than Iggy’s!” Noct yells at the other, while he scribbles 1000 points next to his name and rubs Gladio’s name off the score board completely.

“Rude.” Ignis picks the book up from the floor, throwing it in the direction of Noct’s shrill attitude, smiling as he hears a thud, followed by a curse from the king.

“Behind?! Noct, you can’t see me because I’m miles ahead and you’re currently stuck in a cloud of my dust!”

“Let’s leave them to it Specs, fancy a wander to base camp?” Prompto rests an arm on his shoulder, shaking his head at the other two, bickering.

“Yes, I think that is an excellent idea.” Part way up the stairs, Ignis stops and holds out a hand. “By the way, well done Prompto, another excellent score.”

Prompto grins, shaking his hand. “Thanks Iggy! You too. Damn, it’s a shame you can’t see the look on the other’s faces every time you make another shot and they’ve missed one. Its priceless.”

“Hm…it is perhaps the biggest lament I have for the loss of my sight. Missing out on the crumbling expressions of those two idiots. However, I don’t have to look at their smug expressions either, so swings and roundabouts.”

The distance echo of voices sounds up the subway stairwell as Prompto and Ignis make their way to the glaive camp.

“…Let’s go again! This time, I’m going to win, and you can do the cleaning rota for a week!”


End file.
